


RAVN

by Sanguinarian



Category: RWBY
Genre: Bad Puns, Cybernetics, Cyborg Angst, Disabled Character, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fantastic Racism, Faunus - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Left-handed character, Mental Health Issues, Racist Weiss (at first), Transhumanism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2018-10-29 06:47:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 64,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10848645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanguinarian/pseuds/Sanguinarian
Summary: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction and in RWBY, it is no different. Join Team RAVN - the male equivalent of Team RWBY - in their adventures in the world of Remnant. Will they overcome the challenges faced or will they be swept away by the currents of Salem's schemes? Read and find out.Please reread chapter 7, I made some important changes.





	1. Black Trailer

A large hooded figure trudged down a snowy path, framed by tall evergreen trees. Steel armored boots stepped through the snow softly enough that the figure's steps did not make more than a light crunching noise to displace the quiet of the forest. The figure was completely covered up, not revealing anything of himself to the world, just as he preferred it.

A full-length hooded long-coat covered up almost his entire body, but strangely, only his left arm was covered by a long sleeve, and on his left hand was a steel, silver-colored clawed gauntlet with pink draconic scroll-work. His right arm, however, was completely covered in silver-colored steel armor with pink draconic scroll-work. The figure's legs were covered by black leather pants that, oddly, ended at the knee. From the knees down where steel silver and pink armored boots.

Around the figure's slim waist, over the coat, was a black leather belt with a silver buckle in the shape of a fleur-de-lis with a pair of swords crossed behind it with a shield behind them. Attached to the left side of the belt was an ornate sword.

The longsword Balmung possessed an ornate silver-colored steel pommel and cross-guard, a black-gray wrapped hilt, and a black shield-shaped ornament at the center of the guard with a silver cross embedded in it. The scabbard was black leather-covered wood with silver ornaments and a length of black cloth chained to it.

The figure's chest was covered by a matching armored breastplate, covering everything from the collar bones to below the figure's rib-cage leaving everything else to be covered up by a turtleneck sweater.

Attached to the figure's back by a magnet in the coat was an ornate kite-shield. The shield Fafnir had a thick black ornate outline, with the face of the shield itself being mirror polished silver-colored steel, and in the center was a black fleur-de-lis, crossed swords and shield symbol, outlined by numerous smaller pink symbols.

Going almost unseen was the pistol strapped to his left thigh. The gun Hilde was a semi-automatic, break loading revolver with three barrels and three cylinders. It was no less ornamented than his sword or shield, with silver vines decorating the black handle, and black scrollwork decorating the silver barrels.

The figure's face, which would have otherwise been merely shadowed by the hood of his coat, was covered by a silver and pink dragon themed steel mask/helmet that curved over his head till it reached the back of his skull, leaving his ears uncovered, but still concealed by the shadows of his hood.

The silence of the forest, up till now unbroken but for the soft crunches of his footsteps, was split by a sudden roar. It started out as a lion's roar, but then tapered off and became an eagle's cry.

With his left hand removed Fafnir from his back, and held it in a ready position, the length of the shield running parallel with his forearm, and with his right, gripped the hilt of Balmung. His grip sure, but not yet drawing the sword.

Several more cries echoed in the night sky, some the same as the one from before, some different. Some sounded further away, some sounded closer, and some sounded like they came from different beasts altogether.

Upon hearing the drumbeats of large wings he jumped back, spreading his legs and bending his knees in the stance of his forefathers, holding his shield before his body, and drawing his sword, revealing a gleaming silver-colored steel blade with a diamond crossection, decorated with ornate scroll-work.

A large black winged form landed on the spot he just stood on seconds ago. Upon observation, the creature was a creature of Grimm, a griffon to be precise. The creature was extremely large, easily towering over him by leaps and bounds. Massive wings stood proudly on its furry back, each being very large, with long sharp feathers. Bony plates and spikes were present along the bony frames of the wings, along its spine, lion-like tail and hind legs. Its forelegs were more eagle like, and were covered in fur up to the joint, where fur became sharp feathers, and ending in strong four digit claws.

The griffon snarled at him, rearing back its white, four eyed skull, before it lunged at him, opening its beak wide in an ear splitting roar, exposing the grey webbing connecting the upper half to the lower.

The figure raised his shield before him, temporarily blinding the griffon to his movements, before he twisted into a kick. The griffon threw its body forward, expecting to bury the warrior under its weight, but was surprised when the kick managed to lift it off the ground and throw it back, sending it skidding a full ten feet through the snow.

The warrior heard shifting in the snow about his feet, so he stabbed his sword into the ground and was met with a loud screech before the snow behind it exploded upward, and the white head of a king taijitu lunged at him at lightning speed. The figure raised his shield, and the snake grim was stopped so abruptly that its body went slack behind it.

The warrior maneuvered his shield, slamming the taijitu's head into the ground, before bringing down his sword with such force that the the head was severed in one stroke.

Upon the death of the king taijitu, the griffon lunged at him once more, but rather than a repeat of last time, the grimm stopped short and flew back into the air before, with a beat of its wings, the grimm launched a flurry of feathers at him.

Some were blocked or deflected by his shield, some missed entirely and stabbed into the snowy ground, but the last one managed to bypass his shield and was headed for his shoulder, only to be deflected into the snow by Balmung.

The snow below his feet exploded outward once again, but this time not by a grimm rushing out to meet him, but by the warrior himself as he jumped into the air to meet the griffon head on. A metal hand gripped the griffon's masked skull, cracking but not breaking it, and using it as leverage, the warrior flipped himself over the grimm's head so he could straddle its back.

Drawing his sword, the warrior moved to behead the griffon, but only managed to scratch its thick neck before the grimm threw him off.

As he fell through the air, the warrior managed to correct himself so that he would land feet first, but was seized by the griffon as it dove after him. But before they could hit the ground, the warrior managed to get free of the griffon's grip and maneuver himself on top of the beast, with his feet on top of its belly and his knees bent.

The griffon tried to snap at him, bur only earned itself a punch to the beak for its trouble. Then, just as they were about to hit the ground, he put all of his weight into his knees and straightened his legs with a snap at the last moment before the griffon collided with the ground, sending all of his weight and downward momentum into the griffon's stomach and chest, and was rewarded with a satisfying crunch as the grimm stopped moving.

Satisfied with his kill, the warrior known as Raven sheathed his sword and put away his shield. He then turned his head when he heard loud stomping coming toward him. Completing his turn, he saw a boarbatusk charging him down.

Without hesitation, he withdrew Hilde with his left hand and leveled the gun at the charging grimm. Waiting for it to get close, he pulled the trigger and a powerful volley of three bullets launched from the three long barrels and slammed into the creature, causing it to halt its charge and fall to the ground disoriented, its momentum causing it to skid to his feet.

Raven raised his right leg and set his foot down on the dazed grimm's neck, and without windup, stomped down with enough force to cave in the boarbatusk's neck and causing its eyes to pop out of its sockets.

Raven sighed and returned his gun to its holster, and continued down his path unmolested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone says anything, yes I am aware that longswords are meant as two-handed weapons, and are therefore not used with shields. However, longswords can be used one-handed, albeit sacrificing power and control in favor of more range. You will just have to wait and see where I am going with this.


	2. Scarlet Trailer

A young man by the name of Agni Vermillion walked calmly down the sidewalk of a busy street of a small town, bobbing and weaving through the heavy foot traffic as he kept his nose buried in his nondescript black book.

His shoulder length auburn hair swayed slightly with his movements, and his vibrant emerald eyes raced back and forth as he read his book, Ninjas of Love.

The click-clack of his black leather harness-boots were completely inaudible beneath the murmuring of the crowd, and tucked into his boots were fashionable black leather pants. Tucked into his pants was a crimson v-neck muscle shirt with a fire flower emblem, and completing his look was a knee-length scarlet leather coat, with four inch long fringe on the forearms of his sleeves, and ankle-length fringe in the lower hem of the coat. The only thing resembling actual armor were the ornately designed scarlet leather pads strapped to his knees, and the ornate black leather pads strapped to his elbows.

Strapped to his back with a black leather harness was a large oval shaped case, colored black and deep maroon.

As he made his way through the crowd, he drew many eyes, some appreciative and others wary. Many appreciative eyes were sweeping over his form, but only until their gazes fell upon the hand holding the book he was so attentive of. On the third finger of said hand was a gold ring. The biggest reason he was drawing so much attention, however, was the weapon held loosely in his right hand.

A scarlet shafted halberd, Rhongomyniad, was held, point facing toward the ground, in a loose grip. On the end facing toward the ground was a silver crescent blade, a long spear like spike, and a wickedly pointed hook, all ornately decorated with scarlet scroll-work. On the opposite end of the weapon was a second ornate spike, shorter than the first.

"This is the address" Agni said, seeing the large building with the high domed roof.

* * *

Walking under the dim lights of the auditorium, Agni unhooked the strap over his shoulder and lowered the case to the ground, sitting down in the ornate wooden chair set up for him while he waited for the announcer to finish with his diatribe.

Nodding when the yelling of the announcer ceased, he opened the case to reveal a tall maroon string instrument and a bow.

A cello.

This was a cello concert, and Agni was a prodigy cellist.

Taking the instrument in his left hand and the bow in his right, he set the cello down between his spread legs on the end pin and, inhaling deeply, drew the bow lightly across the strings.

The lights dimmed further as the concert begun, and violins picked up to lend their lighter melodies to his own darker one. The concert continued with just string instruments for a few moments, and then the wind section joined the symphony with flutes and clarinets.

But the concert was not allowed to continue past that point as a tremor rocked the building. Agni sensed movement behind him as a shriek sounded from the audience and turned, picking up his halberd from the floor, to see a living statue swinging its katana down at him.

He dropped his cello and bow, which were then caught by a fellow musician, he raised his halberd to block, if he dodged then the people next to him would be crushed. The giant stone blade impacted with his halberd, and he let one end of it fall toward the ground that the giant blade would slide down the shaft and away from his body.

Agni jumped onto the blade and ran along it to get to the statue's arm. The possessed statue tried to grab him with its free hand, but Agni leapt onto it and leapt again to the statues face, stabbing it with the spear tip of his halberd.

Heedless of the 'injury', the creature knocked him off with a punch from his free hand and swung its blade at him as he fell, Agni blocked it with his halberd but was launched across the emptying auditorium.

Landing in a crouch, he twirled his poleaxe about his body before readying it in a standard spearman's stance, channeling his aura through the small hollows throughout the weapon and igniting the halberd's head in flames.

The statue took up its katana in both hands and started to run at him, and in response Agni knelt further toward the ground in a modified runner's stance, keeping his halberd raised over his head in his right hand, he started towards the grimm in a burst of speed so intense cracks formed in the floor beneath his feet.

The statue swung its katana down at him again and he dodged to the left, and when it tried to stomp him into the ground he leapt forward in a combat roll. Rising from his roll, he twisted his body and struck the statue in the ankle with the flaming blade of his halberd, taking a chunk of stone with it.

The statue staggered before steadying itself and swung at him again, but again he dodged.

Raising the shaft of his weapon along his shoulders, he twisted his body before beginning a swing with his right hand, before switching to his left hand to build up the momentum, and then finally stabbing his halberd into the crater on its ankle, separating the statue's foot from its leg.

The grimm surprised him by not falling forward, instead spinning on its remaining foot and slamming its katana into his side, finally landing a blow on the elusive human.

Luckily, the statue's blade was too thick to cut into him as it merely flung him into the far wall, his back making cracks in the plaster on impact.

Falling to the ground, he looked up to see that the possessed statue was charging at him again, the shortened leg causing a limp and slowing it down somewhat, he flipped a hidden switch on the shaft of his weapon, opening up two dust chambers, allowing his own fire aura to mix with the powdered lightning and wind dust inside, and engulfing his entire halberd in a chaotic array of plasma.

Crouching down and firming his leg muscles, and leapt high into the air. Activating his semblance, Pheonix, his body was engulfed in fire, taking the shape of a large bird and keeping him suspended in the air. Rearing back his halberd in a single arm as if he were hefting a lance to be thrown, he strengthened the muscles in his arm with his aura before, with a shout of exertion, he threw his weapon at the possessed statue.

The plasma coated halberd pierced straight through the creature's chest, coming to a rest in the ground behind it. The plasma entered into the statue's body, sending it into convulsions, before finally exploding in a brilliant display of fire, wind and lightning that eroded surrounding area and sent chunks of stone, crushing everything they landed upon.

Sighing in dismay, Agni flew down to his halberd and deactivated his semblance. Picking up his weapon, he collected his wallet out of his coat, taking out the necessary lien to cover the damages to the auditorium.


	3. Gold Trailer

The door burst open, and a young man swaggered into the train station without a care in the world. Heads turned to the figure sauntering toward the counter, and eventual whispers of 'faunus' started to ring through the air. The young man scoffed, uncaring of their opinions.

He was proud of his heritage.

The whispers about his gaudy appearance, on the other hand, made him growl fiercely at them, making them turn away, not wanting to be the cause of a confrontation.

The young man was Nefartem Gild, a lion faunus as evidenced by his long golden mane and round lion ears. His mane framed his dark-skinned, fine featured golden eyed face. He wore a pristine white vest over his bare chest, with golden embroidery on the hemlines. On his lower body he wore white pants, and attached to his waist by a white leather belt was a white ankle-length open skirt with gold embroidery on the hem, and a water lily embroidered on the back in gold. On his feet he wore white leather sandal boots, with an ornate white and gold leather shin guard.

Across his collarbones he wore a thick gold necklace with an oval shaped opal gemstone at the front, along with a white cord necklace that fell down to his chest, with a gold lion paw pendant. Gold bangles decorated his forearms, and yellow, white and blue gold rings decorated several of his fingers.

Lastly, grasped in his right hand was a steel briefcase with ornate gold plating.

Coming to the counter, he slapped a few lien cards down, smiled his best lady-killer smile and said "one ticket to Vale if you would please, my lovely desert flower?"

The woman at the counter stared at the garish looking man for a moment with a deadpanned expression before responding, "the train for Vale just left."

At that Nefartem lost his thin veneer of cool and slapped his hands on the counter and shouted "What!? But I'm sure I got here on time, why did the train leave already!"

The woman shrugged and said in a bored tone "the last train to Vale was bought out by some Schnee company executive, so the train left a while ago loaded up with Dust. There's another train scheduled for Vale in a few hours, but it has yet to arrive. So if you'd like to wait in the lobby, please do so." She finished, handing him a ticket, which he took with a sigh.

"I so despise traveling by train," the faunus said to himself, moving to leave the station and get something to eat, "so filthy."

Ignoring the whispers again, he left the station behind and sauntered down the sidewalk to the nearest food stand. "Schnee, huh?" he said with a sneer, shaking his head in disgust at the inconsideration the company showed to the little folk.

His eye was drawn to the tree line where he saw a flash of white, and saw the unmistakable uniform of the White Fang.

Looking down at his train ticket, he sighed before putting it in his pocket and running off after the masked men.

* * *

"Alright rookies," the lieutenant started addressing his subordinates, a group of White Fang recruits, "Taurus and Belladonna are on the train, so now our job is done." He took out his scroll and opened it, "our job now is to regroup with-" he was cut off by a bullet entering into the back of his neck. Had he been aware of the oncoming projectile and focusing his aura, he might have been able to stop it, but as it was, it entered his flesh unmolested, severing his spine.

The White Fang grunts gasped at the sudden spray of blood as the lieutenant fell to the ground, they drew their weapons and looked around, wary of another sniper shot. None came, as a lion faunus dressed in a garish white and gold ensemble came out of the treeline, a long barrel and handle coming out of either end of a briefcase.

Nefartem pressed a sequence of buttons on top of his briefcase, and the long barrel collapsed in on itself and withdrew into the weapon, being replaced by two short barrels before he opened fire with the machine gun.

The White Fang grunts scrambled out of the way of the barrage of bullets, with only a few of them falling. The barrage stopped when one of the masked faunus shot at Nefartem with his rifle, prompting the unmasked faunus to dodge.

The lack of gunfire giving the grunts some breathing room, they started to close in on the lion. Nefartem smirked and shifted his weapon again, the short dual barrels being replaced by a single wide one which shot out a single purplish-black Dust crystal.

The crystal exploded on contact with the ground, exploding into a nonlethal gravity well, drawing the White Fang members toward the center. The gravity well was nonlethal as it was, but with yet another switch, Nefartem's briefcase became a fire Dust fueled grenade launcher. He shot a fire grenade at the center of the gravity field, taking out the majority of his enemies with the explosion.

A single bullet shot toward him and he sidestepped it with a smirk, but his movement made one side of his vest flap in the air beside him, and then the bullet punched a hole in his vest making his world stop.

His heart thudding in his ears, he craned his neck down to look at his vest. There, a few inches from the corner, there was a bullet hole with singed edges.

"You..." Nefartem said under his breath, and the remaining three White Fang grunts across from him craned their necks to hear him "what?"

"You bastards..." the lion said through gritted teeth, and the girl who shot his vest lowered her longsword-rifle and looked at him warily.

"You bastards ruined my outfit!" Nefartem shouted finally with tears in his eyes. The masked faunus sweatdropped as one and said "huh?"

"Do you have any idea how long it will take me to make a new vest!"

They couldn't believe this was happening. Their leader was dead and their forces were decimated, and all by this loser. "Why cant you just patch up the hole?" the woman who shot him said, though this was evidently the wrong thing to say. "Just patch it up?" Nefartem said incredulously, "if I do patch it up, there will be obvious signs that it WAS patched up. You just don't understand fashion!"

This was too much for them to take, and the girl to the left shouted "fashion, that white and gold monstrosity!? Why don't you just march right down to a clothing store and get some new duds buddy, because I think your outfit is going to give me a brain aneurysm!"

Nefartem's left eye twitched in shock before he shouted in anger "alright that's enough!" Pressing a complex sequence of buttons on his briefcase, he grabbed it in both hands as it separated into two halves, covering his hands and forearms and becoming armored gauntlets with spikes on the knuckles.

He slammed his fists together, activating the lightning Dust chambers in the back of his hands and lightning began to arc between the spikes, turning them into shock gauntlets.

His adversaries took a collective step back. It was clear their opponent as a lunatic, so maybe it was a bad idea to push him over the edge. The woman held her longsword-rifle in both hands an preparation, and the man to her right readied his saber and pistol, while the girl to her left gulped and pointed her pistols at the lion faunus... who was no longer there.

The girl gasped in pain as the air was driven from her lungs by a gut punch from the shock gauntlet, the lightning arcs causing her muscles to convulse. Thus, she was helpless to the kick to her side that dropped her.

The woman swung her longsword toward his head, but he bent backwards and sent his still extended leg toward her feet in a sweep. She jumped over his legs, but was vulnerable to the metal fist that raced toward her face.

She was saved as her partner wrapped an arm around her midsection and pulled her out of the way, and with his other arm he stabbed at Nefartem with his saber.

The lion blocked the saber with his gauntlet and punched with the other, the force sending them both flying back, and the lightning keeping them both temporarily immobilized.

Whimpering, the White Fang girl tried to get back to her feet, but a single lightning enhanced backhand sent her back down.

The woman had a stronger constitution than her allies and was standing back up, albeit shakily. With a running start, he kicked her in the chin, and with her reeling back he kicked her in the pelvis with the same foot. With her disoriented and reeling, he unleashed a barrage of spinning kicks finished by a single forceful kick which sent her into the air, and going with his momentum he jumped and kicked her twice in the pelvis and the back of her shoulders, and kicked her one last time in the chest, sending her flying back unconscious.

Running toward the last enemy still conscious, he wound up for a knock-out punch but had to duck under a swipe of his saber. The saber swung down to cut him in half, but he dodged it, and the saber-wielder corrected himself and swung for his chest before twisting into a stab when he dodged.

Getting sick of this, he grabbed the mass-produced blade and shattered it with a squeeze before burying his shock gauntlet in the man's gut followed by a punch between his eyes.

Nefartem took a long breath to calm himself down before moving to collect the three to drag them to the authorities. But not before giving that girl a spanking for mocking his outfit.


	4. Silver Trailer

Making his way toward the kingdom of Vale, the boy decided to stay the night in a small village in Mistral. Pushing open the door, he made his way into the crowded lobby and walked toward the counter, trying to ignore the eyes that turned to observe him.

The boy was short, standing at only five feet, with shaggy grey hair and grey canine ears. He wore a long silver tailcoat with grey hemlines with a stylized grey disc embroidered on the back. Underneath his coat was a black turtleneck shirt and matching black pants, with a hole in the back for his fluffy grey wolf tail, with grey shoes.

Around his neck was a black threaded necklace with grey beads and six silver comma-shaped beads. Tied to his waist with a red rope was a silver handheld mirror with six concentric circles rippling through the reflective surface of the mirror.

Finally, attached to his back by a brown leather strap was a silver greatsword as long as he was tall. The Okami greatsword had a long leaf-shaped blade with a fuller cross-section, the blade widening near the guard, and then narrowed toward the hilt, the guard itself having big hole in the center where the blade met the open maw of the wolf shaped handle. The wolf-shaped handle was narrow, but widened at the pommel, and ended with the wolf's tail circling around and meeting its feet, making a ring.

The boy walked up to the counter before jumping in surprise as a voice spoke to him from behind.

"Hello, who might you be?"

He turned to see a woman with long brown hair swept forward over her left shoulder and a black outfit with a short skirt with a short white apron. She was bending down so that her head was closer to him, her hands on her thighs.

"I'm Vergil ma'am" he said nervously, his hands playing with the hem of his coat.

She smiled and shook her head "none of that ma'am business, you can call me Lisa. I'm the innkeeper here, are you looking for a room to stay the night?" she asked with her head tilted to the side.

"Yes miss Lisa, but-" his eyes teared up "-but I don't have any money. I lost everything I had in a grimm attack" his voice wavered as he said it, and a silver spectral wolf appeared at his side, nuzzling him and he cheered up a bit, hugging the wolf's neck.

"Aww, you're so adorable!" She exclaimed happily with her hands clasped in front of her face, ignoring the use of the kid's semblance. "I'll tell you what," she said with her hands on her hips, "you can spend the night with me, free of charge."

"Really!?" Vergil yelled happily, his tail wagging in joy at not having to sleep out in the rain.

The wolf dissapeared, its job of cheering up its master done.

"Really" she giggled, but then went silent as she started to hear whispering from some of her other patrons, 'lucky little brat' being the least offensive of them.

"Excuse me for a sec," she said to Vergil before turning and walking to the tables "okay" he said in confusion.

Lisa stopped at the tables and put on an eerie smile. "Is there a problem here gentlemen?" Lisa said calmly as the air behind her darkened, a large white blood covered mask creeping around her side. "I don't have to kick you out of my inn do I?" The mask opened a single bloody eye, and a long tongue snaked out from between bloodied teeth.

"No ma'am!", "No need for that ma'am!", "Please make it stop!" were just a few of the remarks coming from her now terrified clientele.

"Good!" Lisa chirped cheerfully, the mask vanishing behind her back again and the air returning to normal. The patrons breathed a collective sigh of relief as the feeling of dread vanished.

"Now," Lisa said clapping her hands "lights out is in ten minutes, so everybody go up to your rooms, and remember," she put on her eerie smile again and her patrons clammed up, terrified of the return of her dreaded mask, "lewd behavior is forbidden in my inn. Any rule breakers will be punished."

Without further ado she turned back to Vergil, still looking at her curiously.

He had been behind her, so he hadn't seen her use her semblance. "Come on Vergil, it's bedtime" she said cheerfully and Vergil smiled, "okay miss Lisa."

* * *

Lisa's room as at the back of the first floor, "thank you again miss Lisa" Vergil said as he walked hand in hand with the innkeeper, "it's my pleasure Vergil. I couldn't simply turn a nice boy like you out into the rain, could I?"

Vergil smiled widely at her kindness.

Opening the door, she turned and said "wait here for a moment and I'll go change" she said, going into the attached bathroom and closing the door behind her.

* * *

The two slept soundly that night, Lisa in her soft silk nightgown and Vergil in the nude, she trusted him not to try anything since he was just a kid.

Refreshed, he left first thing in the morning, yelling his goodbyes to Lisa. Two spectral wolves appeared at his side to keep him company now that he set out on his own again.

As he walked outside of town limits he became aware that he was being followed. Subtly he created more wolves to try and figure out who was following him, but as it turned out it wasn't needed as one of his wolves was taken out by a gunshot. Gasping as he felt the phantom pain of the gunshot, he turned around to see that several of the patrons of Lisa's inn had followed him.

But these men and women were not just any regular patrons, they were all wearing the white and black uniforms of the White Fang.

Taking a few wary steps back, he raised a hand to the hilt poking over his shoulder.

There was a tense silence between Vergil and the White Fang members, but was inevitably broken as one of the masked faunus charged toward the boy with twin sabers leading the way. Vergil grasped Okami's hilt, moved to the left to avoid the saber going for his head, he swung toward the man's back only for his second saber to parry it off to the side.

As the boy and lieutenant were going at it, the rest of the masked faunus charged in but were stonewalled by an army of silver ghostly wolves. They readied their weapons; rifles, pistols, swords, or any combination of the three, and began to fight against the horde, taking only a few casualties in the minutes that followed as they used all their fighting skills and teamwork to fight back the kid's semblance.

Vergil stabbed at the masked faunus, only for the man to dodge to the side, the man sun and swung one saber down at the kid's head and the other at his side. Vergil was slowing down a little, feeling the pain each wolf felt as it was struck down, but still possessed the situational awareness to jump back out of the way of the strikes, spin on his heel and swing his greatsword down at the open lieutenant.

The lieutenant crossed his sabers above his head so he could catch the greatsword in the locked blades and tried to maneuver it to the side, but the kid kicked him square in the stomach, but before he could bring his sword down upon his enemy a gunshot rang throughout the now empty clearing.

A spectral wolf appeared as if on its own accord and jumped in front of the stunned Vergil, the wolf taking the shot meant for its masters heart.

Looking at the shooter, Vergil couldn't help but stare. The tall woman wore a slightly different uniform than the grunts, being more formfitting and having more armor along with a more stylized mask. She had a longsword sheathed at her side and held a revolver in her extended hand.

But what drew his attention was the long, wild grey hair and pointed canine ears.

Standing at her side was a slightly taller man with similar but with a muffler worn around his neck, with a white wolf tail.

Reaching up with her free hand she removed her mask, revealing a familiar face.

"Mom?" he asked, lowering his sword, "dad?" he asked the silent man at her side, but he simply crossed his arms.

He didn't understand, he hadn't seen his family in months. Why were they here now, and why were they wearing White Fang uniforms?

"Mom, why are you here, why are you with the White Fang?" He asked, and the woman glared at him, sying "because the Whate Fang are the future of the faunus."

"But the White Fang are evil Mom, they don't want equality anymore, they want dominance!"

"Exactly!" She screamed at him, and he took a step back in shock. "We have been at the bottom of the food chain ever since we could remember, and our rise to the top is long since due.

"War is coming Vergil. Either join us or die."

Tears fell from widened eyes as he fell down to his knees in shock, his heart breaking at what his mother was saying to him. Unnoticed by any in the clearing, Vergil's spectral wolves began to vanish, one by one.

Seeing her son's response, she raised her revolver, but then lowered and put it away. Despite everything, he was still her son, and she couldn't kill him.

"Poor foolish Vergil, always fighting for the wrong reasons." She turned away, the man at her side following her.

"Kill him."

Vergil summoned more wolves... but nothing happened. He didn't understand, why wasn't his semblance working?

"Sorry kid," the lieutenant said with a voice full of pity, "orders are orders." He swung his saber down to put the poor kid out of his misery, but in a rush of motion he fell back onto the grass, and went to stand up and attack the kid again but...

His hands, he didn't have any hands!

The lieutenant looked warily at the kid, breath escaping him in huffs, a wild, untamed look in his eyes and his body hunched over his sword.

Vergil opened his mouth wide in a wordless scream, howling all of his pain and sorrow into the air as he ran toward the lieutenant at blinding speed, and he tried to dodge, but ended up with a greatsword through his gut.

The body of the White Fang officer fell to the ground, greatsword with it, as the berserk faunus sprinted toward the remaining masked faunus. He attacked them in a flurry of punches and kicks, uncaring as their bullets and blades bounced off his aura shield, whittling it down to nothing, he didn't care when their blades bit into his sides and their bullets punched through his flesh.

He didn't care about anything anymore, too lost in his anger.

* * *

"Why would you stick your neck out for a Faunus whose parents have just joined an organisation of delusional lunatics?" Vergil asked with his face screwed up in a depressed look, his eyes devoid of emotion, and fixing the man on the opposite side of the metal table with a suspicious look.

The battle against the White Fang? That was long over. Someone on the edge of town had seen the fighting and the White Fang uniforms and had called the authorities, leading to the arrest of the only surviving faunus left in the area, himself.

His rage had died down by the time they arrived, so they were able to take both him and his sword into the station without any struggle.

They roughly shoved him into a cell, and several hours later two people, a man and a woman, had arrived.

The man was tall with a black suit worn over a green turtleneck and grey hair, if a shade darker than his own, and the woman was blond with a braid on one side of her head with oval glasses, a white blouse with frilled cuffs, a weird black vest/skirt thing and black stockings and high heels.

He had a feeling her face was usually stuck in a stern expression, but at the moment she was looking at Vergil in concern.

Ozpin just sighed and turned to face Vergil.

"I believe in judging a person by their actions and not the actions of their parents," he took out a scroll and showed him a recording of his fight with the White Fang earlier, though it was unclear how that recording was taken as he had not remembered seeing any cameras. "Your actions today proved to me that you are more than worthy of a place in Beacon" he said, taking a drink from his mug.

Upon seeing that Vergil's look still hadn't changed, he continued "as headmaster of Beacon, I've taken in a variety of students from all walks of life. So trust me when I say that your parents being members of the White Fang is nothing compared to when I let in two members of a bandit tribe," Glynda gave her coworker a harsh look, but was ignored as he continued "and they have gone on to become two of the best Hunters Beacon has ever produced."

This revelation clearly shocked Vergil, and as he thought about the information he'd been presented, Ozpin stood and turned to leave. Just as Ozpin and Glynda were exiting the door, Vergil's voice rang out again.

"The two you were talking about, who were they?" Ozpin looked over his shoulder to see Vergil looking at him with an unreadable expression, but he suspected he knew what Vergil was thinking when he asked the question. Glynda looked at Ozpin with her eyebrows knitted together, she knew the man was an exert manipulator, even if he never used that particular skill in an evil manner, she didn't think a hurt and vulnerable young boy needed this kind of thing.

"Am I to take this as acceptance of my offer?" Ozpin asked in return with a barely visible smirk on his face, knowing how the conversation was going to play out.

"Only if you tell me their names" Vergil answered, trying and failing to be impudent.

"Very well," Ozpin said as if he was making some great sacrifice "their names are Qrow and Raven Branwen."

Vergil's eyes widened at hearing those two names, Raven was a little more mysterious, but Qrow was famous all through Remnant. "I shall expect to see you when next term begins, Vergil" Ozpin replied as he left.

Glynda followed him as far as the door before she spared Vergil a glance "If you ever wish to talk, my office is always open" she said, closing the door behind her, the sounds of his cane and her heels clicking on the polished floor fading as Vergil was left alone with his thoughts.


	5. Raven Lenoreah

Raven Lenoreah had arrived early to the Vale aerodrome, and was beginning to lament the fact. The airship wouldn't leave for another hour yet, and wouldn't open its doors to student hopefuls for another ten minutes. He ignored everyone else, wallflower that he was, and walked over to the corner furthest away from anyone else and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest.

He wasn't the only early arrival, as dozens of armed young men and women were present, human and faunus alike, though he noted how the latter were outnumbered by the former three to one.

As with any gathering of the two races, the air was thick with tension as glares and nervous glances were traded back and forth. Some people tried to break the tension with small talk and idle chatter, but those who attempted to speak up inevitably fell into awkward silence.

Normally he wouldn't mind waiting, he was a patient man, but the tension was getting to him. He normally spent weeks at a time away from society on mercenary work, partially so that he could avoid situations like this one.

Raven pushed away from the wall and went to leave the aerodrome. If this tension continued on the entire airship ride to beacon, then he was going to fly his private bullhead there.

He had plans to have it sent to the garage at Beacon after his arrival to the hunters college, but he could always cancel those plans and fly there himself. It wasn't against the rules per se, the airship ride was more of a method of mass transit for potential students than the only way.

Technically, personal vehicles weren't allowed for students, but he could always surrender it on arrival and use it only as transport for missions and such.

But then the doors flew open, and in walked the monkey wrench in his impromptu plans.

A young woman had burst through the doors while shouting her arrival to the world, her exuberant voice cutting through the tension in the air and sending everyone reeling in confusion, annoyance or both.

Where people were glaring and whispering amongst themselves just moments prior, now they were laughing and talking animatedly. They were now acting like the children they were rather than the veteran warriors ready to jump at the slightest provocation that they would probably end up as decades down the line.

She was clearly an... interesting individual, if she was able to ease everyone's minds with a simple statement that everyone should rejoice at the arrival of the sexy and single Yang Xiao Long.

Beneath his mask, Raven's eye twitched in annoyance at her overly flamboyant entrance before moving to stand in his corner again. The tension was gone, though the noise wasn't any better, but with the absence of hate and bitterness in the air he supposed he could deal with a few eccentricities.

* * *

He was wrong. The noise was getting to him, worse than the tension had, though he supposed he had to be thankful that the airship doors would open in another minute or two. When they did, he would find a private room and take a nap until they arrived at their destination.

Though it didn't look like he would be allowed to do so, as he had unfortunately seemed to catch the eye of a certain obnoxious blond.

She started to walk his way, grinning from ear to ear and scaring the living daylights out of him.

Raven anticipated an immediate future of the girl talking his ear off. Briefly, he considered leaving as an option, but then he saw his saving grace.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the doors open and a girl in black and red come in, the blond then let out a shout of joy and ran over to greet her. Crisis averted, for now.

He sighed in relief when a buzz rang out through the air, signalling the end of the longest ten minutes of his life as the airship doors opened, and without hesitation he pushed off the wall and headed toward the doors.

Unfortunately he wasn't the only one in a rush to get in the doors, as a young man with orange hair in knightly armor with a mace attached to his belt not so accidentally bumped into a lion faunus next to him with enough force to send him off balance and into Raven, the faunus' body weight sending Raven too falling and knocking the both of them onto the ground.

The 'knight' laughed manically before stepping on board the ship.

"Watch where you're going you big bully!" Came a shrill voice as the girl in red came bounding toward them followed by the blond.

She was a pale young girl with silver eyes and black hair that faded into dark red at the tips, and was cut in an asymmetrical bob style.

She wore a long sleeved black blouse with a high collar and red trim, a small black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and a black knee-length skirt with red trim. She also wore a pair of high black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and red soles. Slung around her hips at an angle was a wide black belt with also bullets and a pouch attached, a silver rose shaped pin attached her belt to her skirt. Her outfit was topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross shaped pins.

Raven sighed from his spot on the ground. _'I suppose I can't avoid her forever.'_

Speaking of which, she was standing over him and wearing that insufferable grin.

Yang was a pale girl with lilac eyes and long golden hair that fell to her waist in a collection of loose waves. She wore a short tan denim jacket with golden brown piping on the hemlines, short puffy sleeves with black cuffs fastened by two gold buttons. The lapels of her jacket were pulled open wide to show off her large breasts, covered only by a low-cut yellow spandex shirt that was either a tube top or a crop top with a black blazing heart emblem over her left nipple, itself barely covered by the lapel of her jacket.

She also wore a brown belt with a pleated brown denim open skirt, with her blazing heart emblem emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath her open skirt was another open skirt, but longer, asymmetrical and made of a sheer white material. Underneath her open skirts she were black spandex short-shorts. She wore brown leather knee-high heeled-boots over her orange knee socks, the right sock folded down and a gray bandana was tied around right one.

An orange infinity scarf and black spandex fingerless gloves completed her outfit.

She bent over in an... overly provocative manner and held out a hand to help him up from the floor, and he went to take her hand, but then she spoke up.

"So, you have a nice trip?" She grinned widely at her pun, and the hooded girl and the lion faunus both groaned in discomfort, "I guess I'll see you next fall!".

"Yang, no!" The hooded girl chastised the blond for her bad jokes, but was caught off guard by the snickers coming from beneath Raven's mask. "See Ruby? Someone thinks I'm punny!"

"Please don't encourage her" Ruby said in dread, "statistically, someone has to" the lion faunus said, standing up without assistance and brushing off his mane and outfit, muttering angrily about being knocked onto the filthy floor.

"Why is everyone so mean to me?" Yang asked with a pout, bending at the waist so that her arms were hanging were hanging limp in front of her, the movement emphasizing her abundant cleavage.

Raven shook his head, grinning despite himself, he was beginning to think that this girl took any and every opportunity she got to emphasize her sexuality. Why not? She was clearly blessed and at the age where she was starting to experiment with herself and those in her age group, so she dressed and acted in a manner that cast a wide net to lure in as many potential partners as possible.

Before he could psychoanalyze her further, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet. "So, are you going to take off that mask?" Yang asked, leaning uncomfortably close to to him. Raven backed away from her, but she only leaned closer. He squinted at her (not that she could see through the black lenses of his mask) "and why would you want that?"

"I want to see if you're hot enough." Yang said simply.

Raven was hesitant to ask her meaning, but for curiosities sake he asked her in a deadpanned tone "hot enough for..."

"To see if I want to drag you off to a broom closet, kick the school year off with-" "Yang, please don't!" "-with a Yang!" She cocked her hips to the side and threw up her arms to emphasize her pun, and the lion faunus, who strangely hadn't left yet, facepalmed and groaned loudly while Ruby yelled with a red face, "eww Yang you're being gross! Stop being gross!"

Raven on the other hand, buried his face, or his mask rather, into his hand and laughed.

Yang didn't care, as long as she got one person to laugh she was happy. "So, what's your name?"

He took a moment to lean back against the wall of the airship before answering "Raven Lenoreah" he said, making her freeze up. He raised an eyebrow behind his mask, wondering what could make the pun loving chatterbox freeze up.

She must have know someone by that name, and judging by her severe reaction, she must have had a strong emotional attachment to this person. A distant relation perhaps?

"So..." Ruby spoke, trying to fill the sudden awkward silence, but when she couldn't find anything to say she reached over to the blond's wrists and pushed a button on the sides of the gold bangles she wore, causing them to expand into layered yellow gauntlets covering her hands and forearm, with two gun barrels just above her knuckles.

"Ruby!" yelled a scandalized Yang, moving to collapse Ember Celica back into their bangle form, but Raven grabbed her gauntlets before she could. Raven pulled them close and seemed to analyze them for a few seconds before letting them go.

"These are a custom design of an already existing mass produced weapon," he said, surprising the girls with his abrupt, though accurate, statement. "5160 steel for the armor and a softer alloy for the inner workings, iron or copper perhaps, maybe both" he continued with the certainty of a experienced metallurgist, "and twin... shotgun barrels? No, vibrations would cause trauma from multiple shots.

"Energy weapons then? Dust ammunition for bursts of energy rather than traditional gunshots. Conclusion, you-" he pointed to Yang's chest with a clawed finger, "-are a fist-fighter who uses bursts of kinetic energy from your gauntlets to empower your attacks, and perhaps also for self propulsion."

Yang, Runy, the lion faunus and a new arrival, a wolf or a dog faunus about a little shorter than Ruby with gray hair all stared at Raven wide eyed. Raven hesitated, realizing he did it again. Whenever he saw interesting tech he sort of zoned out and analyzed it. He looked off to the side and scratched his chin awkwardly, realizing that he had probably creeped them out with his rambling.

"That was so awesome!" Ruby yelled while bouncing in place, startling everyone present. "Me next! Me next!" the girl insisted, taking the red and black folded up weapon off of her back.

"Um," Raven hesitated, nervous that he may have offended Yang with his assessment. He didn't want to upset her, she may have been a bit too loud for his liking, but she was beautiful, and...

 _'No!'_ he clamped down on those thoughts before they could get out of hand. She was loud and outgoing from what he had seen, and he was quiet and introverted, not to mention the fact that he wasn't even human. Such a thing would never work out, so he shouldn't even try.

"I should go," he said, gesturing to the the side with his thumb, "I actually wanted to get some sleep before we arrived at Beacon anyway."

Pushing off the wall, he hurriedly walked away, ignoring Ruby's disappointed groan and Yang attempting to call him back. Raven sighed resignedly, he was going to be stuck in the same school with those girls and he hadn't made the best first impression. Still, Beacon was reportedly a large school, a castle in fact.

So long as they had dorms far away from each-other and different schedules, it would be only moderately hard to avoid them.

Raven stopped at the doors and was tempted to look back, wanting to see in they had followed after him, but shook his head and forced himself forward into the private rooms.


	6. The Shining Beacon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is now completely done, enjoy.

Unlike when he had first gotten onto the airship, Raven waited until he was the last one on the airship before leaving. He didn't want to risk being drawn into yet another conversation with Yang and Ruby, let alone anyone else. He was better off on his own.

Walking onto the docking area, Raven looked around to confirm that he was alone, and checking his scroll to make sure he wasn't late, he walked forward past a small crater in the ground and made his way to what must have been the front entrance.

Beacon was a school, and as such the layout needn't be confusing to new students. All he had to do was walk in a straight line, swerving to the side occasionally to pass by fountains and such.

Though that was as far as his luck held it seemed, as it seemed two unfortunate souls were, well, lost. Raven sighed resignedly, it was just his luck that he would run into one of the girls he was trying to avoid so soon.

"Hey!" the girl yelled when she caught sight of him, and Raven's shoulders slumped as he sighed in resignation. _'Damn you Murphy'_ , anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. It was unrealistic to expect that he could go any length of time without running into either of the two people he was desperately trying to avoid.

"Hi, I'm Ruby," she said when she caught up with him, and when he stared at her blankly, though she really couldn't tell through his mask. "Ah!" she said and began to rub the back of her head with an awkward look on her face, "I said that already, didn't I? Umm..." She looked around briefly for anything to talk about. Her dad and sister told her to make friends now that she was at Beacon and she didn't want to alienate anyone, after all life was supposed to be better with friends in it. Wasn't it?

"Oh, this is Jaune!" Ruby finally said, dragging the boy in front of her, and Jaune let out a rather unmanly shriek when she tugged him in front of the imposing man. "Um, hi. My name is Jaune Arc, it's a pleasure to meet you." The boy said haltingly, extending his hand warily.

The boy, Jaune was tall, taller than himself by an inch or so, with dark-blue eyes and short messy blonde hair. He wore a white-silver vaguely diamond-shaped breastplate of a similar style to his own, with white-silver spaulders with rerebraces as his only other pieces of plate armor. Underneath he wore a black short-sleeved hoodie with short burnt orange arm warmers. He also wore blue denim pants with a white patch on the left knee where the fabric was worn and frayed to the point of tearing, and black high-top sneakers.

He has two crisscrossing belts around his waist, one dark brown and one light, with a pair of small pouches on them. Finishing off his outfit were a pair of brown wrist-length fingerless gloves with small metal plates over the back of his knuckles. Strapped to his left side by a magnet/hook on his belt was a familiar white-silver sheath and arming sword.

Raven looked toward the Arc boy for a moment before taking his outstretched hand and giving it a firm shake. His father was right, the Lenoreah and the Arc families would always be involved with each other in some capacity, it was fate.

"Raven Lenoreah" he said in response, and Jaune's eyes lit up in recognition, albeit confused recognition. "Lenoreah? I could've sworn I've heard that name somewhere before, but I can't quite remember where," he looked at Raven from under his eyebrows "sorry."

Raven put his hand on his hip ad said sardonically in response "you don't know much about your family's history, do you?"

Ruby pouted at being ignored, she puffed up her cheeks and glared at the boys in what she hoped was an indignant look but was really just adorable.

Instead of getting angry at Raven's mocking tone he rubbed his head and looked off to the side "not so much, no." Before Raven could reply Ruby cut in, "we're going to be late! We need to get going or we'll never make it to the amp... ampi..." Seeing that she was tripping over the word, Raven helpfully supplied "amphitheater" "thank you, and we're totally lost, can you help us?"

Raven sighed inwardly _'kids,_ _'_ "we're supposed to go to the foyer, it's pretty much a straight line from the airship. From there, we'll find a directory that will point us in the right direction." He explained, and both Ruby and Jaune blushed in embarrassment at how they failed to grasp something so basic.

Raven sighed inwardly again, seeing that they needed guidance but were to proud or shy to ask for it. He started for a moment, thinking of the irony that he of all people was giving anyone such guidance with anything.

He shook his head, "come on" he said, turning on his heel and walking.

Jaune turned to Ruby, making a gesture as if to ask 'so we're following him?' and Ruby shouted after him "wait up!"

* * *

The rest of the journey was rather uneventful, if one didn't count the incessant chattering of his companions. It was astonishing really, if he had to guess then he'd say that Jaune and Ruby were almost as socially awkward as he was, and yet they were talking so wearily much. It was as if they have never even heard of the phrase 'silence is golden'.

"Word of advice," Ruby said said in a serious tone, or as serious sounding as her squeaky voice could get. Raven thought it was a little comical. "You should steer clear of my sister for a couple of days."

"Your sister?" Jaune asked, looking up in thought. Raven thought he must have been picturing and older version of Ruby.

He smiled amusedly beneath his mask, Yang and Ruby could be more different if they tried.

"Yeah you kind of, you know, puked all over the floor... and on her boots"

Jaune's eyes went wide at the thought of yet another angry, violent female bullying him into submission. He already had seven sisters, he didn't need another.

He was just lucky that his mother didn't have a violent bone in her body.

"You're just lucky you weren't in arm's reach when she noticed" she said, elbowing him in the. "Oh, and thanks to you, I nearly became a vomit-wipe!"

"Sorry…" the blond wilted under her accusing glare.

Raven sighed, thankfully their journey to the amphitheater was almost over, then hopefully he could go off and hang back from the crowd.

* * *

Raven, Ruby and Jaune were among the last stragglers to arrive at Beacon's amphitheater.

The assembly area, possibly one of many he guessed from the overall size of the castle, took the form of a glass-domed arena with raised bleachers arranged in a circle around a circular stage that has a tall, ornate backdrop with blue lights.

They had barely passed through the towering gates when Ruby heard a familiar voice.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Yang yelled waving exuberantly.

"Oh hey, I gotta go" Ruby said to her male companions abruptly "I'll see you after the ceremony!" "Hey wait" Jaune tried yelling after her, but she was already making her way through the crowd and likely couldn't hear him. He slouched his shoulders with a sigh, "oh great, now where am I gonna find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?"

Rather than trying to answer Jaune's question, Raven turned and walked away.

Stopping short of colliding with a redheaded girl with... rather skimpy leather and bronze armor, he muttered a short apology and made his way to a wall. Though he had to resist slamming a hand into his face... mask.

It seemed the rules of dramatic irony were at play once again, as the spot he had picked had a clear view of Ruby and Yang. Why did fate have to screw with him like this? He became a mercenary in the first place because he wanted to get away from people. They didn't like him, were offended by his mere presence it seemed, so in return he would give them what they wanted and spend weeks at a time away from civilization tracking fugitives or dangerous grimm.

But now that he finally agreed to his father's requests to spend time with people his age, fate seemed to have fun making him run into the two girls he was trying to avoid at every turn.

Though thankfully they were too absorbed in their own drama to come over and pester him. But things began to escalate with the girls when a white haired girl approached them and started yelling at Ruby.

 _'Schnee'_ he thought, her identity made obvious by the snowflake embroidered on her back, his lip curling in distaste. As a mercenary he made a note to choose his clients wisely, but the amount of money they offered to him made him take the job anyway. Back then he didn't know to wear long coats to hide his tail, so when the Schnee family found out he wasn't human, not only did they not pay him, but they betrayed and almost killed him.

Needless to say he harbored quite a bit of resentment to them. He was tempted to draw his gun and shoot her in that bulls-eye on her back.

But thankfully he was distracted by his murderous thoughts by a noise from the microphone on the stage. Turning his eyes away from the Schnee girl to see Ozpin standing behind the microphone stand at the front of the stage with Glynda Goodwitch at his side.

Ozpin was a middle-aged man with tousled silver-white hair and thin brown eyes. He had a light complexion and sharp facial features. Interestingly, Ozpin has black eyebrows, suggesting that silver-white wasn't his natural color and that he either dyed it or it turned white with age. Only, he was far to young for his hair to have turned completely white... Marie Antoinette syndrome perhaps?

He wore small, oddly styled spectacles with shaded lenses and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the green cowl around his neck. He wore an open suit jacket over a buttoned vest and green shirt. He also wore black trousers and black dress shoes.

In his left hand he carried a long cane. Its handle was embellished with a scroll-work pattern. There was a large circular area at the base of the handle containing small bronze gears, and attached at one side was a gray knuckle-bar that extended down nearly to the end of the handle. The shaft of the cane was gray-black and appeared to have a square shaped shaft as as opposed a round one.

Glynda appeared to be just a few years shy of forty, and had very platinum blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes were a bright, emerald green and she wore thin ovular glasses. She wore teal teardrop-shaped earrings with a matching pendant on her collar.

She wore a white long-sleeved, pleated top that had a wide, keyhole neckline and cuffs that flare into pleated frills. Her lower body was covered by a black pencil skirt that reached up to just under her bust-line with bronze buttons and ever-so-slightly transparent black-brown leggings.

Her shirt seemed extremely tight, but wasn't strained at all, so if he had to guess he'd say that she wore corset under her shirt.

She wore black high-heeled boots with bronze heels, and a short cape that was purple inside and black on the outside. The cut of the cape was stylized to end in flames and arrows, with a row of diamond-shaped bronze beads on the back. Above this line of beads was an emblem of a tiara.

Professor Ozpin (no one knew his surname, did they), the headmaster of Beacon Academy, cleared his throat before beginning his speech. "I'll keep this brief" he started in a distracted, almost bored tone. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your lives to the protection of the people.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction."

Raven crossed his arms over his chest and stood a little straighter. That statement really struck him. For years now, he just roamed Remnant, without purpose, direction, or goal. That was why he agreed to come here, not just because it would make him a better fighter, but because even he could see that his life was becoming far too lonely. The rest of the students didn't seem to agree, as their postures shifted to reflect either anger or depression at Ozpin's speech.

They were children after all, supremely confident in their own abilities and unable to see past their own arrogance. Ozpin so far wasn't making any friends with his students, but Raven ventured a guess that their tunes would change during their stay at Beacon.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far." Ozpin looked over the youngsters in the hall with a sharp gaze that seemed to meet the gaze of every single one of them, "it is up to you to take the first step."

The headmaster readjusted his grip on his cane and walked away from the microphone. His speech had turned out a lot shorter than Raven had expected, and a lot more controversial going off of the muttering of the prospective students.

Glynda stepped up to the microphone after a seconds hesitation, clearly she hadn't expected the abrupt speech either. He was expecting a more thorough explanation from her, but he was to be dissapointed, as her speech was even shorter and more to the point. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, you're initiation begins."

Narrowing her her eyes, Glynda looked out over the crowd with an extremely shrewd gaze. "Be ready. You are dismissed."

Raven's breath hitched and his hands tightened around his upper arms, the metal of his gauntlets almost digging into the leather of his sleeve, when the implications of her speech hit him. They were ALL to gathering the ballroom, meaning that for their first night, they would all share the same sleeping quarters. He was going to be sleeping in the same room as a bunch of girls!

He started hyperventilating. _'I'm going to be sleeping in the same room as...'_ his eyes drifted toward Yang, roving down her well formed body. She seemed just like the type of person to have a set of skimpy pajamas, and she was going to be wearing them in the same room as him!

He was having a panic attack now, his shoulders and legs shaking at the thought. As a natural loner, Raven wasn't used to being around girls at all, much less half naked ones.

Shaking his head to calm himself, he took a box of pills from his jacket. After puberty hit him like a semi-truck, his entire life started to change, though thanks to a convenient hormone imbalance he never grew any body hair, he was thankful for that at least. He never really... handled himself either, too afraid of judgement from his peers or from his elders, all of whom led him to believe that such things were, on varying levels, wrong. Unfortunately this only made his urges become nothing short of maddening. Then, with the help of his doctor, he discovered medication he could use to suppress his urges, and ever since he had maintained a steady supply.

Opening one of the boxes and taking out the aforementioned pills, along with one to help with the bone density side affect of the former, as well as another for his panic attacks in general, and brought them to his mouth and swallowed them. Raven sighed in relief as the shaking ceased, once again the hormones were driven back and again his mind was a cold engine of logic.

"I'm a natural blond you know." He heard clearly now that the amphitheater had been mostly emptied. He looked over in the direction to see Jaune flirting with the Schnee girl, Ruby looking on with confusion, and Yang with amusement.

Raven shook his head in disdain. _'No accounting for taste, I_ see.' Why did Jaune have to be interested in her of all people? Sure, her family was rich, but Jaune didn't particularly strike him as the type to go after rich girls... well, not unless he was a very good liar and actor. He could see why he didn't try flirting with Yang, what with the vomit incident, and Ruby was... Ruby.

He hurried after the departing crowd to avoid the Schnee girl and Jaune's bad one liners.

* * *

Yang left the bathroom after her long, relaxing shower. Her hands were tugging on her short, orange tank top and black short shorts (show would have gone with her usual booty shorts, but her sister was in the room), making sure they fit right and didn't show too much. She was all for showing skin, but she didn't want a wardrobe malfunction to show something she wasn't ready to show.

Least of all in public where her little sister could see.

She didn't mind showing off her developing body, but she did curb her behavior where her sister was concerned. God forbid word of her exploits reached her innocent little ears.

Spotting her sister in the crowd, Yang made her way back through the minefield of lecherous looks, pickup lines (some of which she might have responded to had the situation been different), and former classmates that was Beacon's ballroom. She and Ruby had bunked in the far corner away from all interruptions. It wasn't a weekend full of fun and games in a nice hotel, but it was a start.

Ruby had settled down in her pajamas. She wore a black tank top with a heart-shaped Beowolf design on the chest and tight white pants with pink roses decorated with pink roses. She also wore a black sleeping mask with triangular red beowolf eyes, sitting slightly askew on her head. Yang had given it to her as a birthday present a couple of years before, and she had worn it every night, since. It was an adorable a sight in the first few years, except that she was laying on her stomach, her tight flannel pants showing off her tight, round butt.

Yang looked around with a glare, scaring off any boys who might have gotten the wrong message. She wanted her baby sister to be small and cute forever, not grow up and, she shuddered, have sex with boys! It made her depressed just thinking about it.

Yang sneaked up behind Ruby and plopped down on her sleeping bag with a big amused smile on her face. Ruby jumped and almost dropped her pencil.

"It's like a big slumber party!"

"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys, though," Ruby said in a deadpanned voice as she tried focusing back on her notebook.

"I know I do!" Yang said with a purr.

Her attempt to lighten the mood failed the moment her eyes fell on Jaune - Ruby had been insistent on dropping the nickname during dinner - wearing blue fleece full-body pajamas with a cartoon bunny on his chest and cute bunny slippers. They looked comfortable and warm, but were embarrassing as hell to wear in public. Either he had really big balls or he just didn't know any better.

He noticed her stare and gave Yang a smarmy smile that made her shudder. He looked like he would be kind of fun, but only after he worked on his public image a bit. The one thing he had going for him was what she could see through the tight pajamas. That was pretty darn impressive.

His confidence didn't last, though. A panicked look crept into his features and he scurried away before Yang could figure out what had happened. She hadn't accidentally given him the evil eye, had she?

Not that it mattered. Yang was more interested in what had Ruby so captivated. She propped herself up on her elbow to sneak a peek.

"What's that?"

"A letter to the gang back at Signal," Ruby said with an endearing smile. "I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things were going."

"Awww, that's so cute!" Yang said, half seriously and half teasingly, only to be hit in the face with a pillow.

_'Ah! You're lucky you're cute.'_

"Shut up!" Ruby yelled defensively with a bright blush on her face. "I didn't get to take my friends with me to Beacon. It's weird not knowing anyone."

Yang sighed. Personally, she wouldn't have minded a blank slate. Already knowing people was causing her nothing but trouble she could do without.

"What about Jaune? He's…" she hesitated, fishing for a positive adjective, those pajamas weren't helping matters, and telling her sister the boy was hung was out of the question. "Nice?" Yang decided on, for lack of anything better to say about him. "There you go, plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase."

Ruby flipped over on her sleeping bag and became very interested in the high ceiling. "I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend, back to zero."

"There is no such thing as negative friends" she admonished, amused by her sister's childishness. "You just made one friend and one enemy!" Ruby's favorite corgi pillow smacked Yang in the face. She sighed and propped herself up again. "Look, it has only been one day. Trust me, you've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet."

_"My mom always says, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."_

Silence fell over their camp as Ruby went back to writing her letter. Yang didn't want to disturb her sister while she was working on something that was important to her. Instead, she focused on the ballroom. The next day they would face their initiation. Three of the people in the room would become part of her team. They would be bound together until graduation.

That was a pretty tall order, she could easily end up with the wrong people.

Her eyes wandered from face to face—familiar and unfamiliar—wondering how she could make sure that that wasn't going to happen. It didn't take long for her to give up. There was no point in over-thinking or over-complicating things when there was a far simpler solution at hand: She would plow through initiation at full steam, and whoever managed to keep up should do.

Ruby was taking her sweet time, though, and Yang ended up watching the people in the room just to pass time. As it turned out, there was plenty of entertainment to be found among their classmates. Like Pyrrha Nikos, minor celebrity and prodigy fighter, who had been cornered by a group of fawning fans, looking very uneasy. She was a lucky draw for Yang that should make combat practice a lot more entertaining.

There was Weiss, whose mountain of luggage stood tall and lonely in the middle of the room. The rich little bit... princess was all by herself and had already turned in for the night. No surprise there given her generally crappy attitude.

Yang settled on watching Jaune. He was strutting around the room in his ridiculous pajamas, trying to chat up girls. From the looks of it, he wasn't having much luck.

He was about to approach a group of particularly unpleasant girls from Signal when a peculiar sight ripped Yang's attention away from the prowling buffoon. Sleeping (or just leaning, it was hard to tell with that mask) against the wall in the corner of the ballroom with his long legs bent in front of him was none other then that boy from the airship who figured out her fighting style just from seeing her gauntlets for a few seconds and then ran away like one of the boys who asked her out and ran before she could say anything sat a lone figure. A large kite shield she had seen on the guy's back was leaning against his left leg, and a sheathed sword was held against his body, his head leaning against the handle like a pillow similar to those veteran warriors in those movies her dad liked.

He hadn't even taken off his armor or coat. He couldn't be comfortable like that...

Then she noticed movement… his head was slowly and subtly swaying back and forth, and Yang thought that he was observing everyone in the ballroom behind his mask, though the black lenses made it hard to tell what his eyes were doing.

Then his posture registered in her mind. His back was against the wall, with his legs bent and his feet on the floor. His shield was close by, ready to be grabbed if he needed it, and his sword was even closer. Was he worried about their initiation and trying to scout teammates? No, it felt a lot more ...immediate. It was anxiety, maybe even fear, that Yang saw in his his relaxed but still tight body.

His behavior wasn't the only thing that worried Yang. He was sitting on the cold stone floor, in full battle gear, with no sign of a sleeping bag or even a blanket nearby. Was he intending to spend the whole night huddled into his corner like that? What could have him so worried about his fellow students that he would do that to himself? On the night before their initiation, no less.

Yang had heard enough stories about the rougher parts of the world to know that he was serious. Whatever the story, she would bet a year's worth of her allowance that the boy was no wide-eyed graduate fresh out of a primary combat school like most of the people in the room.

Then, it happened: Their eyes met... well, her eyes met his lenses. Just for a moment, the boy's entire body froze up like a deer caught in the headlights, before he pulled his legs closer to his body. She thought he looked like a cornered animal ready to lash out.

Getting caught couldn't have helped disperse the boy's fears, and with every second Yang kept focusing on him they would only grow. He needed a way out, but he wouldn't just give in either. She needed a way to break the ice and show hm that she was no danger, something that would provoke a strong reaction without showing aggression.

Her lips curled up in a smirk as she came up with the perfect plan. She made sure that she had the boy's full attention before she gave the best seductive smile and wink she could manage. Her opponent stiffened again. Yang chuckled and continued watching him before a movement caught her eye. His coat, splayed on the ground around his hips as a round, wide black object slithered around his hips.

Yang blinked and rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and when the image didn't go away her eyes widened. Was that a tail!?

Then that would make him a faunus. That made things clearer. There were a lot of people out there who hated and/or feared faunus. His timid, cautious posture made sense. He must have had a rough time of it around humans, and there were a lot of humans in the room.

"—ang? Hey Yang, are you listening to me?" Ruby asked waving a hand in front of Yang's face.

"Uh? Sorry, what was that?"

"You were sitting there all quiet for ages and then you suddenly started acting wierd. It's creepy, stop it!"

Yang hummed. Her eyes briefly turned back to what had turned out to be the most interesting person in the room before looking away. She didn't want him to be any more uncomfortable than he already was.

"Oh, that girl…" Ruby said, sitting up from her sleeping bag and looking at a familiar black haired girl.

She was a fair skinned young girl about Yang's age with amber eyes and long black hair, and she wore a black ribbon was tied into a large bow on the top of her head. Her yellow eyes were ringed with purple eye shadow in cats-eye style. The girl wore a black, long sleeved, yukata-style shirt with white edging over a purple undershirt, and a matching skirt. A black obi was wrapped around her waist and tied with a black and white string belt.

"You know her?"

"Not really. She's the one who saw what happened with Weiss, but she left before I could say anything."

That girl was the mysterious stranger that had swooped in to save her sister from the bitchy princess?

"Well, now's your chance!" Yang got up and yanked Ruby along.

"Hey, wait! What are you doing?"

* * *

Looking back at it, Blake's day had gone a lot better than she had feared. Sure, the airship had been an ordeal and coming face-to-face with a Schnee could be considered suicidal, but it had provided one invaluable insight: Weiss didn't know about her.

Blake's mind kept coming back to the girl in the hood and how pitiful she had sounded, but the welcoming ceremony had vindicated her caution. As expected, the girl had met up with the tall blond and Weiss wasn't far behind.

The rest of the day had been smooth sailing with some minor hiccups. Mandatory teams and shared dorm rooms were something she wasn't looking forward to, but every advanced combat school followed a similar scheme. She had been prepared for it.

The tour of the campus had been a boring waste of time. Blake had thoroughly researched Beacon, collecting every scrap of information she could find: faculty, history, coursework, even details on some outstanding upperclassmen. Preparation was key to avoid mistakes, and it had paid off, in a way. At the very least, she had known more about Beacon than her guide—some self-important fool of an upperclassman—whose tour had been full of factual errors, gossip, and hearsay.

Her plan for the rest of the day couldn't have been more straight forward: get dinner, take a shower, and read a good book. By the time dinner had rolled around things had looked up. The food was surprisingly enjoyable and the dining hall large enough for her to find a remote spot free of any distractions. Her shower was a different matter. Blake had barely stepped into her stall when a very persistent but not very talented girl ruined her peace and quiet. With no end in sight, and any chance of enjoying her shower gone, she had cut it short and returned to the ballroom.

Blake picked up her candelabra and lit its three candles. It was an anachronism in times of dust-powered appliances and machinery, but no artificial light source could match the gentle glow of a real fire.

She watched the flames dance. The heavy brass fixture's halo soothed her mind and made her feel at home. It was the only home she had left after breaking with her former life. Beacon might be able to fill that void for the time being, but, even if everything went according to plan, it would only last for a couple of years before she would be out on her own again.

She picked up the book that would keep her company for the evening and tried to push the thought out of her mind. Maybe she would find a real home one day. Maybe she would spend the rest of her life as a vagabond. Either way, she wouldn't find the answer that evening. Instead, she silenced her mind by sending it to another world. She took on the role of another person and lived another life.

For a while, it provided enough of a distraction to forget about her situation, but it didn't last. It was the noise that kept her from enjoying her book in gleeful ignorance of her surroundings. The noise of several dozen strangers capable enough to be admitted to an elite combat academy. Blake was confident in her abilities, but if just a few of them ganged up on her, getting away would be difficult. Not that there was a reason for them to do so, but the idea that they could was enough to get to her.

Using her book as cover, she started to map her surroundings. Doors, windows, pillars, ledges; anything that could be used to traverse the room and allow for a quick exit was carefully cataloged in her mind. Next were the students. She tried to assess their strengths, weaknesses, personality, mood, awareness of their surroundings; any bit of information she could glean given the circumstances.

The rational part of her brain told her that she was being silly. She couldn't start off the next four years of her life by treating her classmates like enemies. Whenever her mind caught on to what she was doing, she forced herself to go back to reading her book. She rarely lasted for more than a couple of paragraphs before her eyes started to wander again.

She had nearly finished her sweep of the room, certain that nobody had noticed. After all, she had spent years of her life living in the shadows. A bunch of combat school graduates, still green behind their ears, couldn't make her even if they tried. She gave herself a satisfied smile before she took another peek at the room.

Blake froze, he tapping of bare feet on the stone floor was getting closer and closer.

No, no, no, no. Blake would keep reading her book. None of what she was hearing was happening. Her mind was playing tricks on her after concocting the worst case scenario. Everything was all right.

"Helloooo!" the blond sang, her singing voice both high and low in tone and warbling a bit. Not a natural singer, but she had a nice voice nonetheless.

Blake cringed and lowered her book just enough to get a look at the intruders bound for her little cove. The hooded girl—not actually wearing her hood—was getting dragged along by the blond whose skimpy pajamas barely contained her curves. The golden curtain flowing from her scalp and her exuberantly waving arm seemed to conspire to make her figure stand out even more. The stupid smile on her face completed the picture. From the corner of her eyes, Blake could see every guy within earshot transfixed on her swaying hips.

The two intruders came to a halt a step or two from Blake. The blond loomed over her with a cocky smile, exuding confidence. The younger girl was a different matter. She had been dragged over under protest and, the moment the blond hat let go of her, had turned her back on them and crossed her arms.

"I believe you two may know each other?" the blond asked, gesturing at the pouting girl.

Blake looked at her with squinted eyes deliberately delaying her answer. "Aren't you the girl that exploded?"

She turned around. All her annoyance and resistance washed away. "Uh, yeah. The name's Ruby." She leaned down and offered her hand.

Blake ignored it and brought her attention back to her book.

Ruby withdrew her hand and rubbed the back of her neck. "But you can just call me Crater…" she started to say before realizing that she was making a fool of herself. "Actually, you can just call me Ruby."

"Okay" she said in an exasperated tone after a brief moment of hesitation.

"What are you doing?" the blond whispered to the girl, "I don't know! Help me!" the hooded girl whispered whispered back pleadingly.

"So, what's your name?"

Blake peeked over the top of her book with a frown. "Blake" she said with a sigh, wanting nothing more than for the girls to leave her alone.

"Well, Blake, I'm Yang!" Yang gestured to herself confidently, "Ruby's older sister."

Blake's eyes darted back and forth between the two girls. Sisters? They looked nothing alike. Not that it was any of her concern. She returned to her book leaving the trio in an awkward silence.

"I like your bow!" Yang said loudly.

"Thanks" Blake almost hissed, so irritated at being bothered like this.

"It goes great with your…" Yang leaned forward frantically looking over Blake and her meager belongings, "pajamas" she finished lamely.

Blake looked up at the loud blond girl, "right" she deadpanned.

Ruby and Yang chuckled nervously, realizing they weren't winning any points with Blake.

"Nice night, don't you think?" Yang said, trying to recover from her fumble.

"Yes," Blake said staring into Yang's lilac eyes with as much annoyed disinterest as she could muster, "it's lovely."

Yang and Ruby looked at her with stupid smiles on their faces showing no reaction.

"Almost as lovely as this book…"

Nothing.

"…that I will continue to read…"

Still no reaction.

"…as soon as you leave." Blake returned to her book, once again.

"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause," Yang said nonchalantly, backing away and waving her hand dismissively.

Finally.

"What's it about?" Ruby asked.

"Huh?" Blake blurted out surprised by the genuine interest in Ruby's voice.

"Your book. What's it about?"

"Well, it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body."

"Oh, yeah," Yang said with a raised eyebrow, "that's real lovely."

Yang briefly wondered what it would be like to have two souls fighting for control of her body. She quickly decided she didn't like the idea and put it out of her mind.

Ruby moved closer to Blake, not realizing that the girl just wanted to be left alone. "I love books, Yang used to read to me every night before bed."

Blake looked at her skeptically. She didn't doubt it after seeing the blond dote on her sister, but why was she telling her this? It seemed to come a little out of left field.

"Stories of heroes and monsters," Ruby said with dreamy eyes. "They're one of the reasons I want to be a huntress."

"Why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" She said, her eyes becoming jaded for an instant, but hiding the look behind her mask before either of the could notice. Not that she thought they would, they didn't seem particularly bright.

"I'm hoping we all will" Ruby said overflowing with boundless optimism. Blake couldn't help but wonder at the girl's innocence.

"As a girl, I wanted to be just like the heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right and protected the people who couldn't protect themselves."

Sometime during the conversation, Blake had dropped her guard. The book in her hand had lost its use as a cover and rested in her lap. "That's very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

"Well, that's why we're here, isn't it? To make it better."

Blake's eye's were wide at the sentiment, but the moment was ruined when Yang jumped Ruby and squeezed the life out of her. "Ohhh, I'm so proud of my baby sister!"

The display of sisterly affection deteriorated into a rambunctious wrestling match. Blake couldn't believe that she had allowed two childish, squabbling sisters to break down her guard. Two squabbling sisters who were drawing a lot of attention.

"Well, Ruby, Yang, it was a pleasure to—"

"What in the world is going on over here!"

The sisters stopped in their tracks. Ruby was holding Yang's foot up to her chest while Yang's arms were flailing comically in an attempt to keep herself from falling over. Both wore wide, happy smiles on their faces. Blake did not feel like smiling given her latest visitor.

The new arrival had snow white skin and hair and pale blue eyes, widely recognized traits of the Schnee family. A small, crooked scar ran vertically down her left eye. She wore a faded blue nightgown with short sleeves and white trim, her nightgown displayed the Schnee Crest on the upper-right chest.

The Schnee girl leaned forward with her hands balled into fists. "Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?" She yelled, her frilly, blue nightgown taking away somewhat from the air of authority she she was trying to project.

The sisters had resolved their standoff leaving Yang free to come face-to-face with Weiss. "Oh, not you again!" they yelled simultaneously.

Ruby was caught in-between them looking very uneasy. Not just uneasy, there was a hint of genuine fear in her eyes.

Given her previous encounters with Weiss, that might be understandable, but it seemed to deepen whenever she looked at her own sister.

Blake's eyes returned to the blond trying to figure out what she had missed. Like lightning, the truth of the situation struck her. How could she have been so blind not to have noticed? The bubbly, blond airhead with her sing-song voice, swaying hips and stupid smile was gone.

Dangerous eyes were glaring at Weiss. Eyes that seemed different, darker, than before. Her rigid stance and skimpy clothes revealed what lay skin-deep under her curves, literally. The long limbs, tight stomach, and broad shoulders were all laden with tight, heavily toned muscles. It was a body forged by years of rigorous training, and, judging from the way she held herself, she knew how to use it.

With or without a proper weapon.

Taking in the full picture, Blake sympathized with Ruby. Yang was ready to pick a real fight with Weiss regardless of the consequences.

"Guys, she's right," Ruby said mostly reasoning with her sister. "People are trying to sleep."

"Oh, now you're on my side," Weiss said.

Blake rolled her eyes. Leave it to the spoiled Schnee princess to pick a fight even when people are agreeing with her.

"I was always on your side!" Ruby tried to say, but Weiss wasn't hearing any of it.

"Yeah, what's your problem with my sister anyways? She's only trying to be nice."

Much to Blake's relief, Yang had visibly relaxed and no longer looked like she was about to punch Weiss' lights out.

"She is a hazard to my health!" Weiss said stomping her foot on the ground.

The Schnee heiress's arrival had only made the situation worse. Their bickering was drawing the attention of the entire ballroom. Looking off to the far corner, she saw a figure looking straight at them. She had been nervous about him since she had first seen him. He was her age, presumably, but the way he carried himself and the way he walked told her that he was a fighter with years of experience and questionable morals.

Not helping was the fact that he covered up completely. A longcoat, armor, a hood and a mask. She was thankful it was a metal mask and not a bone mask, but even so, she had no way of knowing who he was. She had seen the subtle movements of a tail beneath his coat, so she was comforted in the fact that she could cross 'faunus hater' off the list of possibilities, but possible White Fang supporter wasn't any better.

Blake had to break them up, somehow. Before he got himself involved at the very least.

She took her candelabra and blew the candles out, and the sudden change in illumination drew three pairs of eyes towards her.

"How about we all go to sleep? It's getting late and we should rest up for tomorrow."

Weiss turned and stuck up her nose high. "That's what I have been saying all along!" She walked away without another word, not allowing any of them to point out that none of them had been making an excess amount of noise until she had gotten herself involved.

"We should leave too," Ruby said. "See you tomorrow?"

"Sure" Blake said, "have a good night."

"You too!" Ruby chirped.


	7. The First Step

As was habit by now, Raven had risen with the sun. But even so, he was still not used to such vigorous activity so shortly after he rose from oblivion. Which was why the extremely loud voice took him so completely by surprise.

"Wake up, lazy butt!"

Eyes widening behind his mask, Raven leapt to his feet, sword held by its sheath in his left hand and ready to be drawn, his shield clattering to the side by his sudden movement.

He slouched with a groan when it became clear to him that he was in Beacon's ballroom with the other student hopefuls and nothing was going to suddenly attack him. Sleeping in metal armor didn't come highly recommended, as his aching back could testify to.

Securing his sword to his belt and picking up his shield, he looked around for who had yelled, only to see an orange haired girl who looked far too bubbly to be appropriate so early in the morning. Thankfully, she wasn't talking to him, as she looked to be busy annoying a lethargic looking boy. Shaking his head, Raven placed his shield on his back and made his way through the labyrinth of students, some still sleeping and some shaking away their drowsiness so that they too could get up and start their day.

Raven almost tripped on his feet when he came across a boy putting on underwear. The young boy, about Ruby's age (maybe even a little younger) with shaggy gray hair, pointed canine ears and a fluffy canine tail was putting them on, meaning he had gone the entire night without them.

He stopped in his tracks, just staring in disbelief at the naivety and foolishness of this boy who would sleep in the nude in a ballroom full of people.

"Huh?" the boy said when he noticed him staring, and he skipped over to him and extended his hand, ignoring the fact that he was still half naked. "Hi, I'm Virgil. Will you be my friend?"

"Umm... I," Raven couldn't form a proper response, so shocked was he by the abruptness of that question, that he just said "sure."

"Yay!" Virgil's grin grew so wide it split his face and he jumped in place, "my second day at Beacon and I already made a friend! I can't wait to tell my mo-" he started to say before he cut himself off with a depressed look on his face. Raven blinked in surprise that the boy, smiling and full of joy at one moment was now looking so sad.

"Are you alright?" Raven asked, concerned at the look of naked hurt in Virgil's eyes.

"What? Oh no, I'm fine." the boy replied quickly, his earlier chipperness returning to his voice, but the hurt remained. No, it had been there all along, he just hadn't bothered to notice it. Raven winced in disapproval of himself, his left hand grabbing his right elbow and squeezing.

Raven stood by in silence as the boy finished getting dressed. Part of the reason he had come here was because his father wanted him to make friends, and maybe this boy could be a start to that, even if he had just dropped the friend question on him with so suddenly. But, weren't friends supposed to help each other? The damaged couldn't help the damaged, could they?

"Well, lets go!" the boy said, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him along toward the dining hall. Raven followed obediently, staring at his and Virgil's conjoined hands in thought.

* * *

"Right. I mean what was I thinking?" the orange-haired girl who's voice woke him up earlier mumbled through the pancake that was hanging out of her mouth. Raven's head was plopped into his hands, his hands nursing a growing headache. The girl at the next table just droned on and on and on. Virgil was happily scooping up mouthful after mouthful of oatmeal at his side, seemingly unaware of the loud girls ranting.

The girl had short orange hair and turquoise eyes. Her clothing was a mix and match of some sort, with different colors and themes, making it hard to tell where she was from. She wore a collared black vest that ended at her waist with a pink emblem depicting a hammer and a lightning bolt was embroidered on the back. Under the vest and around her waist was two layers of clothing forming a sort of waist cincher, colored red and light-blue the back of her skirt was a large and slightly transparent turquoise bow.

She also were a white sleeveless top with a small cut out heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm, with matching pink fingerless gloves on each hand. She wore a pink thigh-length skirt. Her shoes were a mix of pink and white with pink laces, with her emblem on their soles.

Lastly, she wore strangely styled armor that began in the middle of her shoulders and neck and ended at her waist.

Seated next to her was a male teenager with long black hair tied into a ponytail that ended midway down his back, with a magenta streak going down the left side of his head. His eyes were magenta, and he imagined that the girl next to him must have put the streak there for him as a flight of fancy.

He wore a dark green long-sleeved tailcoat with a red, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs, and the coat fastened diagonally down the front with gold frogs.

Looking at his wrists, he appeared to be wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt beneath the coat, and lastly were light-tan pants with stylish black shoes.

Raven wasn't wearing his mask, but his face was still obscured by his hood. His mask, helmet actually, was propped up on the table in front of him, staring at him with its empty black eyes.

"But still, I hope we end up on the same team together." She said to the pony-tailed boy at her side, slurping up the remains of her pancake and swallowed it without chewing. "Oh! We should come up with some sort of plan," the girl clamped down hard on the boys shoulder who went about his business without showing any reaction, "to make sure we end up on the same team together."

She lifted him bodily from his chair and carried him out of the room with her. Raven stared after them in astonishment.

_'I have so many questions.'_

But instead he shook his head and focused back onto finishing his oatmeal.

Setting down his spoon with a sigh, he bent his back to pop the stiff joints of his spine. After a far higher number of cracking sounds than would be normal for the usual person, he let out a relieved sigh and picked up his helmet with both hands, and only showing off enough of his face to see that his skin was pale white, he slipped on his helmet and pulled his hood up to keep his features obscured once more.

No sooner than he had done that Virgil finished his breakfast and tugged on his sleeve once more, signaling that it was time to go. Raven picked up their trays and silverware went to put them with the trash. On the way Virgil spoke up "that was really good! I've never had oatmeal before." Raven turned to see Virgil's smiling face, "if you never had oatmeal before, why did you get it when we were in line?"

"Well because you did," Virgil said, and he blinked in surprise. Raven was so used to people lying to him of giving such selfish reasons for doing what they did, this completely simple and honest response threw him for a loop. "You look like you know what you're doing, so I just got the same thing as you."

Raven couldn't think of anything to say to that, so he just smiled and gave Virgil's hand a light squeeze.

* * *

"What if we bribe the headmaster? No, that won't work. He has the school." The... energetic girl said, holding her chin in thought. "I know! We'll have some sort of signal. Like a distress call. A secret signal so that we can find each other in the forest." She poked his cheek. "Can you imitate a sloth?"

"Nora," the boy said in a flat tone.

Nora quieted at stood to attention. "Yes, Ren?"

He held up his bladed pistols, which collapsed in on themselves and disappeared in his sleeves. "I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."

Nora squinted her eyes in thought before saying "that's why it's perfect! No one will suspect we're working together."

Ren closed his locker and walked past her. "Come on Nora, let's go."

"But not 'together' together," Nora said with a musical sounding giggle as she followed Ren outside.

Raven could feel another headache coming. The search for potential teammates was already looking disappointing. Virgil was already in if the way he was clinging to his hand was any indication. This Ren boy might make a suitable teammate, but he suspected that he and Nora came as a package deal, and he suspected that close proximity to Nora for more than a few weeks would end in murder charges rather than a hunter's license.

Ruby and Yang had made their way into the locker room shortly before Nora and Ren had left.

Raven's eyes were drawn to the tall blond whose street clothes managed to be reveal more than her pajamas. Part of him wanted to shake his head in exasperation, part of him wanted to stare in appreciation, and the rest of him wanted to get to Virgil's locker, get his things and leave.

Yang and Ruby had arrived at the younger sister's locker when Raven noticed the yellow-tinted aviator glasses dangling from the blond's shirt, their slight weight dragging the fabric down to reveal more of her cleavage. Raven shook his head and tried to walk away, but Virgil wanted to stay put. He hoped Ruby was what had drawn the boy's attention, because it would just be inappropriate if Yang was the one who had caught his eye.

Ruby was a lot more conservative where bare skin was concerned, and Raven was very thankful for that. One, because Ruby was too young to be showing that much skin, and two, because he didn't want Virgil getting drawn in by that kind of indecency.

"Wonder what they were so worked up about," Ruby said, looking towards the two who were walking toward the exit. Or, to be more accurate, one was skipping and the other was lazily keeping up with her.

"Oh, who knows," Yang brushed her off, "so, you seem awfully chipper this morning."

Ruby laughed. "Yep! No more awkward small talk or 'getting to know you' stuff." She took her collapsed weapon out of her locker and cradled it in her arms like a baby. "Today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking."

"Well, Ruby, remember that you're not the only one going through initiation," Yang said sounding surprisingly mature and serious. "If you want to grow up, you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together."

"You sound like Dad!" Ruby groaned, putting her weapon back into her locker and facing Yang. "Okay, first of all, what does meeting people have to do with fighting?"

Raven could sympathize with that. If he could, he would avoid anyone but the faculty until graduation.

Before Yang could reply, Ruby said "and secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up." Ruby stood tall with her arms crossed. "I drink milk!"

Raven was dumbfounded. There seemed to be an unwritten law with the sisters about following up every smart and sensible comment with something childish and unreasonable.

"But what about when we form teams?"

Ruby averted her eyes and stammered nervously, "I don't know, I'll just be on your team or something…"

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?"

If her wavering voice wasn't enough of a giveaway to Yang's conflicted feelings, seeing her hug her wild golden mane like a security blanket was. A caring older sibling pushing the younger sibling out of the nest for her own good no matter the pain it would cause to herself.

Ruby didn't see the hidden meaning in Yang's gesture, though. "My dearest sister Yang," she said in what was supposed to be a honeyed tone, "are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?"

"What?" Yang stammered, throwing up her hands in defense. "Of course, I do. I just thought, I don't know, maybe it would help you break out of your shell."

"What the—?" Ruby shrieked and stormed off. "I don't need to break out of my shell! That's absolutely-" Raven stopped listening in. He was scouting potential teammates, he had no interest in the going ons of teenage girls.

Jaune passed by mumbling about his locker number, and Virgil left with him since his locker was right next to Jaune's, saying how he would see Raven in a little bit.

Raven sighed and began to walk toward the exit. He already had everything he owned on his person and had no intentions of relying on a locker. He may be in a supposed safe zone right now, but he had no illusions about safety. He could not drop his guard for a second, huntsman and huntresses in training they may be, but they were still every bit as capable of unwarranted violence or deadly machinations as any of the fugitives he had hunted down and captured or killed.

A couple of rows down from Ruby's locker stood two girls: one dressed almost entirely in white, the other in red and bronze.

Weiss Schnee had her hair pulled back into an off-center bun and tail, and pinned in place with an icicle shaped ornament.

She were a thigh-length strapless dress with a faint color gradation from white to pale blue at the hem. A small piece of black lace sat at the front of her neckline, and the hem of the dress was scalloped and embroidered to resemble snowflakes, with layers of white tulle under the skirt. Over this she wore a bell sleeved bolero with the same color gradation as her dress from shoulder to wrist, lined in red and with a ruffled collar. On the back of the bolero is the Schnee family snowflake in gray.

She also wore a small apple pendant on a silver chain and thin, rectangular silver earrings.

Her boots were white with wedge shaped heels. They had a small silver decoration across the top of the foot and are lined in red. A thin white sash was tied around her waist with a pouch attached to the back.

The tall scarlet-haired girl from yesterday wore her hair in a waist-length ponytail, curled slightly into loose ringlets. She also wore light-green eye shadow around the far upper corners of her eyes.

Her top was a light-brown, leather strapless halter top split divided vertically with some bronze patterns. It appeared quite stiff, maintaining its shape around her busty figure without support, meaning it was likely a bronze armor plate with a leather outer layer. Pyrrha wore a tight fitting elastic, black, A-line miniskirt and brown opera gloves. She wore a scarlet sash that wrapped around her waist and went down to her ankles on one side.

There was a small circular bronze plate with a shield and spear insignia by her right hip opposite two leather pouches with both connected to a belt. She wore a bronze tiara, with a pair of small teardrop-shaped emeralds hanging from the circlet on thin chains. She also sported a large bronze gorget around her neck, and a bronze bracelet on the upper half of her left arm.

She had elaborate bronze greaves that start below her mid-thigh, continuing downwards into her boots, and a pair of cuisses that begin mid-thigh and ended slightly above her knees. She also donned a bronze bracer on top of the sleeve on her left arm, which had a groove down the center for her shield to attach to. Her high-heeled boots were brown leather with bronze trim, matching her skirt and sleeves, and reached up to mid-calf.

Both of them were to be avoided for very different reasons. Weiss's family connection alone was enough to give her a wide birth. Her questionable personality only added to Raven's apprehension. Pyrrha Nikos was the only one of the first-year students that had shown up in Raven's research on Beacon. On paper, she was a good a choice for a teammate: smart, polite, serious, humble, and famed for being one of the most talented fighters of their generation.

Pyrrha stood a couple of inches taller than Yang who was already on the tall side for a teenage girl. The redhead's body was similarly toned, and her figure, while smaller, could give Yang a run for her money. So could her outfit, which was almost as skimpy as Yang's. She wore pieces of bronze armor and jewelry in combination with bright red fabrics that were an almost perfect match for her impossibly-long ponytail. Pyrrha projected the air of a serious warrior that shouldn't be messed with rather than that of a party girl out for a good time.

"So, Pyrrha," Weiss asked in an obviously false confident voice, "have you given any thought to whose team you would like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual, such as yourself."

Pyrrha hummed in though, either not catching onto the Schnee's attempt to butter her up or being too polite to mention it. "I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together."

"Well, that sounds grand," Pyrrha said, though her voice was notably lacking in enthusiasm.

Weiss turned away from Pyrrah with a calculative look on her face... or just a constipated one. She started on a schpeal that, frankly just sounded like she didn't know how inner monologuing worked.

"You know what else is great?" Jaune asked the girl in a 'suave' tone. "Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

Raven sank his masked face into a hand at the cringe-worthy display that lived up to the worst romance novels he had ever read.

"You again?" Weiss asked, sounding ready to bite his head off.

Pyrrha jumped in between the two of them. "Nice to meet you, Jaune," she said with a sincere smile on her face.

"Yeah, yeah." Jaune pushed Pyrrha out of the way without so much as a glance. "So, Weiss," he flexed his biceps, "couldn't help but overhear your fondness for me the other day."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…"

"Don't worry, no need to be embarrassed." He crossed his arms nonchalantly. "So, been hearing rumors about teams. I was thinking you and me would make a good one. What do you say?"

Weiss turned her back on him. Raven could have sworn she saw a small shudder run through her, and his sometimes irrational hatred of all things Schnee made him want to shoot her in the head. Leave it to a Schnee to think herself so far above anyone else, even an Arc, their social equals, that they were beneath her notice.

"Actually," Pyrrha said, "I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so—"

"You don't say," he cut her off before throwing his ladies-man routine at her, "Well, Hot Stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team."

Weiss pushed them apart and shoved him back. "Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you are talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, Snow Angel."

"This is Pyrrha," Weiss said.

"Hello again," Pyrrha said happily with a wave.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum." How did an Atlas native know that?

"Never heard of it."

Weiss scoffed. "She has won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row—a new record!" That was impressive, but some people were too busy to pay much attention to televised events.

"The what?" Unseen by either Jaune or Weiss, Pyrrha's smile grew.

Cheeks bulging in anger at Jaune's ignorance (which would have looked almost cute if she had not been a Schnee), Weiss exploded into a tantrum wildly flailing her arms. "She's on the front of every _Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes_ cereal box!"

Jaune gasped. "That's you?" He recognizes that of all things? He sighed in disappointment as the drama continues. "They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool," Pyrrha said bashfully. "Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?"

Jaune deflated. "I guess not. Sorry."

Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder. "Actually, Jaune, I think you would make a great leader."

Raven raised an eyebrow behind his mask.

"D'oh, stop it!" Jaune cooed.

"Seriously," Weiss said, "stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!"

Raven had to disagree with her. Arcs were natural leaders and warriors, and even if he was... inexperienced as he appeared, all he needed was a bit of training and experience and he would excel.

"Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for team Jaune." He turned his chin up smugly. "Spots are filling up quick."

Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Now I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings. Find a place for you." He leaned in close. "What do you say?"

Raven had enough pattern recognition to recognize what would happen next. Weiss would ask for help to get Jaune away from her, someone would try to jump in to try to get on Pyrrha's (because she was famous) or Weiss' (because her family is rich) good side, and violence would have been used, because whoever intervened would've been looking to impress as this was their second day at a combat school, so Raven decided to intervene himself.

Taking a deep breath to help gather his confidence, he pushed off the wall and barged in to the noise.

"That's enough" his serious baritone voice cut in, interrupting the silly, childish discussion. Everyone's eyes went to the new arrival, taking in the dark, armored, masked figure. "Exactly who do you think you-" Weiss started to say with her hands on her hips before Raven covered her face with his hand, the metal of his gauntlet irritating her skin. "Don't push me Schnee," he said, lightly shoving her back. He pointed a clawed finger at her face and said "you have no idea how much bad blood there is between your family and the rest of the world.

"I wouldn't go running my mouth." He said, and Weiss regained her bearings and narrowed her eyes "is that supposed to be some kind of threat?"

"No, that was just advice." He removed Hild from its holster and held it up so that the gun's barrels were facing up toward the ceiling "this is a threat. Every member of your wretched family has a target painted across their back, figuratively or-" a black blur flashed behind Weiss as the tip of his tail tapped the center of her snowflake crest. Weiss jumped in fright and looked around her "-quite literally, and eventually the blades or bullets of, perhaps not myself, but someone will meet them." He holstered his gun and said "and I do so hope those blades or bullets will be mine."

Fear and anger in her eyes, Weiss rounded on him "what is your problem with my family? Are you White Fang? What did I ever do to you!?"

"You? Oh no," he sneered "you're not important enough to hate. You're your fathers daughter, and that's all anyone would need to want you dead. Oh, and the White Fang, really? Do you want me to tell you how many of their operatives I've killed?" Weiss gulped and, if it were possible, she would have gone whiter. She may have been taught how to fight, but she was too sheltered to even think of killing anyone, even a animal from the White Fang.

"Alright everyone, just calm down." Yang's loud, playful voice cut in as she walked over and threw her arm around Weiss' shoulders. "Lay off the poor girl why don't you. I'm sure she's a Weiss girl once you get to know her." She said, grinning widely at her pun while Ruby groaned.

Raven hesitated for a second before he put his head in his hand and laughed at the joke, dispelling the aura of seriousness around him, and everyone could breath easy once again. Pyrrha took her hand off of Milo's hilt and sighed in relief. She didn't want to fight anyone, but she wouldn't stand by while a girl was bullied, even if he was kind of right.

Weiss cringed and pushed Yang away from her, "did you just use my name as a pun!?" "I sure did short-stack." "What the," Weiss backed away incredulously, hands covering her chest. "You're an idiot!"

Yang leaned back, insulted, before she grinned even wider. "Damn girl, that was" "Yang, no!" " Weiss cold!"

Raven laughed harder and Ruby let out a squeaky "why?"

Jaune hung his head with a noise not dissimilar to the noises he made when back on the airship, and Pyrrha looked caught between laughing out of politeness and scrunching up her face in a cringe.

Weiss growled with an angry blush and yelled "stop using my name for your stupid jokes, and you!" she pointed at the still laughing Raven, no longer frightened of him now that he was laughing at the blondes awful puns "stop laughing! This is not funny!"

When no one listened to her she let out a muffled scream and stomped her way toward the exit. "You're all morons! Every last one of you!"

Raven only laughed harder, wanting to pat Yang on the back for her amazing trick of making the Schnee vanish.

* * *

Far away from the exit and facing away from the rest of the school was a high cliff overlooking the vast Emerald forest. Named for the rolling verdant hills and the many, many trees. From on high, the forest looked beautiful and peaceful, but that couldn't be further from the truth. It was filled with the creatures of Grimm, and even though the teachers did their best to regularly empty it of old and powerful grimm, even they couldn't get them all. As it was, it was still an extremely dangerous place, one where the average civilian, and even trained policeman and soldiers would be afraid to go. What better place to train the next generation of huntsman and huntresses?

The first-year students just a few feet away from the edge of the cliff, each of them atop a square gray panel, waiting for the headmaster and his assistant to kick things off.

Raven lifted his foot and lightly stomped on his platform, and there was an audible clack. So it was some sort of mechanism. His gaze swept over the out over the rolling green hills spanning from the foot of the cliff to the horizon in all directions. So a launching pad then. Professor Ozpin meant to launch them into the forest, but for what purpose? The forest was filled with grimm, so maybe their initiation was to survive in their for some length of time?

He looked to his side to see Virgil, his hand holding onto Raven's sleeve. All hints of sadness had dissapeared and the boy was back to the happy bundle of energy he met that morning.

Virgil was happily bouncing on his heels, eager to get things started. Looking down the lineup a ways, he could see Ruby doing the same. Idly, he thought that the boy at his side and the girl would make good friends, if what little he had seen of them was a good indication of their personalities.

"Hey" Jaune had arrived and picked the open spot next to Ruby.

"Hi, Jaune!" Ruby chirped.

He looked miserable and nervous. The kid must be thinking of the trials ahead. The ultimate fear was of the unknown, and not everyone could handle their fears responsibly. Letting go of Virgil's hand briefly, walked out of his place in line to stand in front of the young Arc. Weiss glared spitefully at Raven when he stepped into her field of vision.

He grabbed the strap of Jaune's breastplate and pulled on it to make sure it was fitted properly. He gave Jaune a reaffirming nod and went back to his place in line without seeing the blonde's grateful look.

Once he was back in line, Virgil grabbed his sleeve again. Looking at Virgil from her spot near the edge of the cliff, Glynda allowed herself a small smile.

' _Looks like he found a friend'._ After what happened with his parents, the boy desperately needed all the positive contact he could get. Her eyes gazed over the line-up, checking off their prospective students. She saw a tall, red-haired man in a scarlet coat with long fringe, in his right hand was a halberd, and in his left was a familiar black book.

Notable about him was the ring on his left hand. So he was already married then. Not many people came to this school having already found their spouse.

Even so, it was still distasteful to read such a book in public.

Last in line was... She pinched the bridge of her nose at the garishness of the boy's outfit. Nefartem Gild, a lion faunus from Vacuo. Loud and eccentric, he was entirely far too obsessed with fashion. Or at least his interpretation of it.

When the rest of the prospective students arrived at the cliff side, she lowered her scroll. "We're ready, sir."

The headmaster's gaze wandered up and down the lineup of students before taking a sip from his cup of coffee.

He cleared his throat and the last few hushed whispers among the students died down. "For years now, you have trained to become warriors. Today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Professor Goodwitch took over. "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about how teams will be assigned. Well, allow us to put an end to your speculations. Each of you will be given teammates," she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with the index and middle finger of her free hand, "today."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," the headmaster continued. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Raven frowned. They hadn't even been given the time to get to know their classmates. Now, they couldn't even look at each other without being chained together? They might as well roll dice or pick numbers and save themselves the trouble.

"What!?" Ruby yelled in shock from her place in line.

Then again… These people have been doing things this way for years, so it must have been a working system.

"Speaking of which," Professor Goodwitch cut in, looking at Raven. "Mister Lenoreah, I'm going to have to ask you to take off your mask for the initiation" she said in a tone that left no room for argument.

Inwardly shrinking in on himself at being put on the spot like this, he reached his hands up to his face before stopping and reaching his right hand up to the left side of his neck. Grabbing the zipper for his hood with his middle and index fingers, he drew it around the back of his neck and pulled the hood from his coat, folded it up and put it in one of the larger pockets in his coat.

His hood no longer covering his head, his mask was revealed to be a helmet, stretching over the top of his head to the bottom of his skull, but not covering his slightly pointed ears. He gripped either side of it with his hands and lifted it away to reveal pale white skin and a feminine heart shaped face.

Lifting it completely away from his head, he revealed snow white hair tied into a tight bun at the back of his head, and undoing the not on the tie, the long tresses of his hair fell down his back, the tips of his long hair falling halfway down to his waist.

Dropping his helmet down to the grass, he opened his almond shaped eyes to reveal his sky blue irises, split down the center by long slit pupils. He removed a small rectangular metal case from within his coat and opened it to reveal glasses of all things. They were elegantly designed with a thin, silver frame and rectangular lenses. He removed them from the case and put it back in his coat, and slipped the glasses onto his nose.

Yang, who had leaned forward so she could finally see Raven without his mask, was almost buzzing with eagerness as he revealed himself. She wasn't a particularly patient person, so not knowing what his face looked like was driving her crazy. But this... she was surprised. He was both more and less than she had built him up to be in her mind. He was so intimidating, she kind of pictured this ultra manly guy with a heavy tan, short black hair, red eyes and a bunch of scars. But then he reveals himself to be this girly looking boy with long white hair and glasses?

This was... actually a lot better.

But then she had to ruin the moment. She grinned widely and shouted "Woohoo! Take it off!"

Professor Goodwitch grunted in annoyance at Yang's shout. "Enough Miss Xiao Long! This is not a strip club!"

"Now now Glynda," Ozpin cut in with an amused smirk "let the children have their fun."

Yang grinned and clicked her tongue at Raven, who put his face in his hand in embarrassment.

"Now," Ozpin said with a serious voice, taking the small bit of levity out of the air. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die."

Jaune chuckled nervously. Yang shook her head and took a peek at him. She noticed the state Ruby was in. Her little sister looked like a broken puppet. Her eyes were half closed and lifeless, her arms were hanging down dejectedly, and her entire body was swaying in place ready to fall over at the smallest breeze.

Yang put a hand on her shoulder and tried to encourage her with a smile. The small gesture brought her back to the world of the living, but her worries were still written all over her face.

Do or die. Yang put on her aviators. That, she could handle.

The redhead tightened his grip on his poleaxe and put his book away.

"You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately." The headmaster took another sip of coffee. "Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, uh, sir?" Jaune raised a hand.

"Good" he said abruptly, and he had to suppress a laugh at how Jaune went ignored, but a few others in line weren't so polite. "Take your positions."

The students got ready. Raven allowed himself a quick glance at Yang, who must have felt his gaze because she slid her aviator glasses down her nose, and Yang couldn't help giving the formerly masked man a seductive wink before pushing her glasses back in place. Raven looked away with an uncomfortable gulp.

"Uh, sir? I've got a question."

The headmaster finally acknowledged Jaune with a nod.

"So, this landing strategy thing, what is it, exactly?" Jaune asked with a shaking voice as the launch pads started to eject students into the forest. "You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No, you will be falling" he said simply, not making Jaune feel any better about it.

"Oh, I see. So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us or something?"

"No, you will be using your own landing strategy."

"Uhuh, yeah… So, uh, what exactly is a landing strateg—" Jaune's question turned into a high-pitched scream as the platform launched them into the air.

Raven sighed. So far he had been underwhelmed by the Arc boy. He wasn't seeing him at his best though, so he was still giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The next one to be launched was Virgil, who flew off with a similar terrified scream as Jaune. Raven's eyes trailer after him, calculating Virgil's trajectory, his own potential trajectory, and how he would need to correct it in order to lad close to the boy so that he could pair up with him.

His own platform launched him off the cliff, and now was the time to put his calculations into action.

* * *

Raven allowed himself to simply fly through the air aimlessly for a few moments. His plan need not be put into action until he neared the canopy. Vigil was some feet ahead still, and safely within his reach. Though if he had to guess, he would say that the boy did not have a landing strategy prepared, nor could he improvise one, at least on such short notice.

He raised a hand to his face and held his index and middle finger to hold his glasses onto his face as he came nearer to the canopy and, fully extending his tail, he wrapped the tip around a tree. He gasped as the sudden halt to his momentum caused a jolt down his spine, but his tail remained firmly wrapped around the treetop. He swung around the tree once before the tree snapped.

He accounted for this, he knew that a thin treetop wouldn't be enough to stop his forward momentum, but that was never the plan. He simply shifted his flight a few inches to the left, sending him on a direct collision course with Virgil. He tucked his arms against his waist and held his legs together so he would fly faster, and his speed increased and he began to fly like a missile toward the flailing wolf faunus.

Virgil and Raven entered the canopy and started to near the ground, and Virgil started to panic, thinking his was going to slam into the ground and fall unconscious and become easy prey for the grimm. His aura was powerful, but unfortunately not powerful enough to protect him completely from such an impact.

Closing in on the boy, he extended his arms in front of him, he caught the surprised boy in an embrace. "Who-" came Virgil's shocked cry before he turned his head and saw who caught him. "Raven, you saved me!" Virgil cried happily, and Raven smiled, showing his long fangs to the boy, and nodded, saying "of course I did. Now, climb onto my back and hold on tight, this is going to get a little rough."

The wolf faunus nodded with a serious look and adjusted his grip on the older teen so that his chest was against Raven's back, his arms lacing themselves under his arms and clasping in front of his breastplate. "So what's your landing strategy going to be?"

"Hold on" Raven simply shouted in response, bending and stiffening his legs beneath him. His feet met the ground and Raven gritted his teeth as he fought to keep his body upright. His feet dug trenches in the dirt as his forward momentum was suddenly halted by the ground. Virgil squeezed his arms around Raven's chest in alarm at what was happening underneath him, but the older boy didn't feel it through his steel armor.

After sliding about a dozen feet and the trenches reaching toward his knees Raven finally stopped. The teen released a relieved breath and fell into a seated position on the dirt.

Holding his breath for a moment longer before letting it out in a wild laugh "that was completely crazy! I was expecting something so smart from you, and you..." Raven smiled tiredly over his shoulder at the excitable boy's boisterous laughter

"Well" Raven said, lifting his legs from their trenches "we don't have forever, let's get going." Once he extracted himself from the ground and stood to his full height he started to walk forward, but turned to look over his shoulder to look at the boy who was still piggybacking him. "You can get down now.

Virgil rubbed the back of his head nervously "oh yeah. Sorry about that" giggling, the boy jumped from his back.

* * *

"Well" Glynda said, her eyes wide with surprise as she looked at the live feed on her scroll, "I didn't expect any of our students to try to land that way."

At her side, Ozpin smiled. "If you recall, Peter tried the same thing when he was a boy."

Glynda glanced at him out of the corner of her eye "yes, and he broke his leg doing so."

Ozpin hummed in thought, bringing up Raven's dossier on his scroll. "Ah, well that explains that." He said, showing the contents of the page to Glynda, and her eyes narrowed as she had to push back a distant memory at what she was seeing. "Yes, it also explains why he requested to modify his uniform so heavily."

Ozpin hummed in thought once again, minimizing the young Lenoreah's dossier but keeping it tabbed.

* * *

At a growling in the trees, Raven took his sword and shield in his hands and focused in on the noise. Virgil took his greatsword in both hands and tried to summon his wolves, but screwed his face up in frustration when none came.

An ursa came bounding out of the trees and Raven unsheathed his sword and rushed it. He ducked under a swipe of its paw and stabbed his sword to the hilt into the grimm's stomach. He raised his shield above his head to keep the ursa's gnashing teeth away from his head, and the creature's claw went for his right shoulder, but the blow was deflected by his armor.

He pulled up on the hilt of Balmung and bisected the ursa.

Behind him, Virgil was fighting two more ursai. The boy leapt back and swung his greatsword horizontally, slicing halfway through one of them. The bodies of dead grim dissolved leaving their bones and masks behind, but they didn't do so immediately after death, and Okami was stuck in the corpse. The other grim, taking advantage of this, tackled Virgil.

His aura protected him, but he was knocked away from his weapon. The ursa leapt after him, but a gunshot halted its momentum causing it to fall toward the ground. Virgil looked to see Raven pointing his tri-barreled revolver at the Ursa in his left hand, his shield replaced on his back and his sword held almost lazily in his right.

Hild was a double-action revolver, not a single-action. Single-action revolvers must be cocked each and every time the gun was fired, but a double-action revolver pulled the hammers back into position, the cylinders indexed themselves to the next round, and the hammers were released to strike the firing pin with each pull of the trigger. But the trade off was that each trigger pull was longer and harder to pull off, meaning that accidental discharge from dropping the gun was also less likely.

Raven walked forward, emptying his clip into the ursa, staggering it with each three bullet round and sending it to the ground dead as the revolver clicked empty. With a flick of his wrist, the cylinders swung out of the barrels to hang at varying angles, with three metal discs falling from them. Reaching into a pocket on the inside of his coat, he removed three more metal discs with six bullets attached to each.

Sliding them into the empty cylinders, he closed them with a flick of another flick of his wrist and the barrels spun in place for a second before he holstered the the gun on his left thigh and removed the shield from his back.

"Let's go." Raven said, looking up to see the awed face the boy was making at his weapon.

"Umm..." Raven said, sweatdropping at the boy's expression.

* * *

Nefartem Gild was hurtling through the air at breakneck speed, his mind overtaken by panic. Panic, because lions were never meant to fly, and because of what this whipping wind would do to his clothes.

He looked at his suitcase, thinking over what he could possibly do to land safely, before an idea came to his mind. He was always experimenting with new functionalities for his weapon, and it just so happened that the last tweak he had made would give his palm strikes a fiery touch. However, he had never intended to use it for anything like this.

In theory if he could gather enough firepower he could slow his descent enough to land safely, but he would use up all the fire dust he had left doing do. But, seeing as he had no other choice, he grabbed his suitcase in both hands and pressed the sequence of buttons that would divide them into gauntlet form.

Nefartem face bloomed into a vicious grin as he held his hands out to the sides to gather the necessary power to pull off his landing strategy.

The canopy grew nearer and he worried that he wouldn't have time to pull this off.

_'Closer'_ he thought as he neared the trees, _'closer,'_ the trees crept ever closer until he felt his sandal clad feet brush the treetops.

_'Now!'_ He pointed his palms behind him and let loose with his overpowered fire palms. "Wow!" he yelled in surprise as his body lurched forward at a pace he was not prepared for. He pointed his palms toward his feet and his body shot up like a rocket, then he corrected himself so that he was shooting toward the canopy.

When the ground was in view, he threw his hands out to the side, palms facing out at angles so that he was spinning clockwise. His downward momentum slowing, his feet landed safely on the ground, his body spun once before his supply of fire dust ran dry, twin trails of smoke rising from his still outstretched palms.

_'And he sticks the landing!'_ he thought, remaining in his stylish pose for a full second.

* * *

"Well," Ozpin said in an amused voice "young Mr. Gild certainly gets points for style."

At his side, Glynda looked away with a disgusted grunt.

* * *

Nefartem rose from his pose with all the grace he could manage while still dizzy from his spin, but the trees behind him rustled as a King Taijitu burst from the foliage and sped towards him. The lion faunus looked toward his fist for a second before shrugging and activating the lightning dust in his knuckles and dodging its lunge, spinning to the side and giving it a lightning powered punch in the eye.

The giant snake grimm screeched and fell onto its side, but as he was winding up for a second punch the second head lunged at him.

Smirking, he focused his aura into his leg and kicked the lunging grimm in the nose, causing a shockwave of force that knocked the grimm back. Now with breathing room, he wound up for the final blow, only for a figure cloaked in flame to descend from the sky, his halberd skewering the Taijutu, sending streams of fire throughout the creature and frying it from the inside out.

Nefartem backed away cautiously as the figure stood from the grimm's back and swiped his weapon to the side. Still cloaked in flame, he floated off of the grimm's back and landed on the ground in front of the faunus. Nefartem crouched in preparation for a fight, at least until the flames cloaking the figure faded to reveal a teen he had seen earlier in the line up.

"Greetings" the other boy said, "I am Agni Vermillion. May I ask your name? We're to be working together after all."

Nefartem looked at the outstretched hand before speaking "Nefartem Gild."

Agni took his metal covered hand and shook it jovially "it is good to meet you Nefartem. Hopefully we will make for a good team."

"Ugh!" Nefartem snorted in derision, and when Agni's face grew confused Nefartem said "I hate your voice. You sound totally conceited!"

Agni's facial features gained a mocking look as he outstretched his hand toward the dark skinned faunus "Mr. Pot? Hello, it's Kettle. He says your black!"

Nefartem glared at Agni until he noticed the human's outfit. The coat, the stylish leather armor, the fringe...

"I think we're going to get along quite well" the faunus said, putting his hands on his hips and emphasizing his own outfit.

Agni blinked in confusion before realization hit him.

_'So fashion is to be our common ground then? So be it.'_

* * *

The wind was rushing past Blake's face as she soared through the sky. Any other day, she might have reveled in the feeling of freedom it instilled in her, but with the headmaster's scheme looming over her, she barely took notice. She was about to be bound to the first person she would make eye contact with. Choice and strategy had gone out of the window to be replaced by the luck of the draw. If only the pool contained a few more winning tickets.

Wishful thinking wasn't going to change anything though, She had to play the hand she had been dealt, which admittedly was not quite as bad as it had first appeared. It took two people to make eye contact, and she had confidence in her ability to fade from sight. Avoiding the wrong partner wouldn't be a problem then.

Although finding the right partner in time was a different matter entirely.

Blake turned around mid-flight to assess her situation. She should have known better than to hope for an easy way out of her dilemma. The students had been spread out over a large area. Some had barely gotten more than a push off the cliff while others, like herself, had been thrown far out into the Emerald Forest.

A bright-red piece of cloth fluttering in the wind caught her eye. Ruby was one of the unlucky ones already about to dive into the sea of green covering the ground. She had been thrown short and was stuck at the other end of the field.

Blake should be disappointed or worried about it. Ruby was clearly the sane and sensible choice. She was dedicated, if a bit naive, and they shared a common interest. Her younger age might also play in Blake's favor. She should go after Ruby.

She groaned and started to scan the flock of students, but there was no sign of anyone she wanted as a teammate.

Time was running out. She could all but smell the leaves below her. One more—

A branch caught Blake's leg and sent her into a tumble as she broke through the canopy. It was too late for any plans or strategies. Her reflexes were all that stood between her and an untimely end on the forest floor.

She drew Gambol Shroud, turning it into its sickle form the moment the blade had cleared the heavy sheath on her back, and flung it with a prayer towards the biggest blotch of brown she could make out in the swirl of colors flashing in front of her eyes.

It caught on to something. Blake's arm was almost yanked from its socket as the ribbon attached to weapon's handle came to tension and sent her swinging through the forest.

The ground was closing in, fast. The ribbon was too long.

She swung her legs forward and drew herself up as high as she could in hopes of avoiding a crippling or fatal crash. Her heels connected with the ground, sending bits of dirt and moss in all directions before she was flung back into the air.

Blake detached the sickle from the branch with a flick of her wrist and sent it back towards herself. The moment it touched her palm, she activated her semblance and threw herself against her momentum.

Her speed dropped considerably.

She spotted a sturdy branch not far from where she was headed. Another use of her semblance later she landed on it with all the grace of a professional gymnast.

Blake took a couple of deep breaths before she cursed herself. Hardly an hour into the initiation and things couldn't have gotten off to a worse start…

* * *

Ruby had hardly had any time to enjoy her flight. The stupid platform had barely pushed her over the edge while Yang had disappeared into the sky.

She drew Crescent Rose from her back and let it unfold into its rifle configuration in front of her and fired several rounds into the forest, the recoil of the large-caliber rifle slowed her down before she broke through the canopy.

She shifted her weapon into its scythe configuration and snagged a large branch with the scythe's head, hoping to use it to break her fall. After two rotations around the branch, it was cut clean in half by the razor-sharp blades.

Dirt and grass were whirled up as Ruby landed with a heavy thud. Not her best landing ever, but, aside from a bit of dirt on her clothes, she had made it through without a hitch.

There was no time to waste, though. Ruby darted off into the trees, tapping into her semblance for some extra speed. Her mind was consumed by a single thought repeated like a mantra: gotta find Yang!

* * *

A beautiful white snowflake formed out of thin air. It shifted to meet a pair of expensive white boots at the perfect angle to lighten the impact. Its duty not yet fulfilled, it moved in unison with its mistress, providing a springboard towards its brethren.

Two runes later, Weiss landed in perfect form, not a hair out of place. Even being flung from a cliff into the wilderness could not deter her from displaying the grace and elegance expected of an heiress to the Schnee family name.

She brushed off her sleeves and made sure that her light jacket sat perfectly before she took account of her surroundings.

They were very… green. Large trees, bushes, grass. Weiss prided herself on many things, but her outdoor skill was not one of them. She was, quite decidedly, not prepared for this.

Going on a nature hike was not the start to her time at an elite hunter academy she had expected. Neither was spending her nights in a drafty room sleeping in the school's ratty old sleeping bags with plebeians and animals.

They should have handed out brochures telling people what to expect, or at the very least, they should have told her to bring her own sleeping bag.

Far worse than her accommodations was the company she had been forced to keep. The little girl and her brute of a sister seemed to be ubiquitous and hell-bent on making her life more difficult. Then, there was that scraggly blond loser who had gotten it into his head that he had a chance with her. He had even interfered with her attempt to convince Pyrrha to join her team.

Then there was that man in the mask. He professed to hating her family, and even to wanting to murder them. He even implied that there were others who felt the same, which was completely preposterous. Her family was the primary source of dust for all of remnant. He claimed to have killed agents of the White Fang, but he was probably a member himself. What other reason could he have had to have drawn his weapon on her?

In which case his proclaimed hatred didn't matter. The hatred of an animal was of little import, he just needed to be taught his rightful place.

Though, of greater concern was his hidden accomplice. Right at the apex of his threat to her, someone had tapped her in the back, right in the center of her family crest, to emphasize his threat. The others in the locker room didn't react, which meant that they didn't see anything, which in turn meant that whoever it was was keeping their presence hidden, probably even from the staff.

While she wouldn't put it past an animal to try to sneak their way into Beacon, she did however recognize that it was a huge security risk. But she needn't be concerned, the teachers would catch them soon enough. Perhaps they would be shown mercy and be sent to her father's mines.

She harrumphed at the thought of it. Being sent to work for her family was more than some rapscallion animal deserved. Personally, she'd just send them to some prison and let them rot.

She shook the thoughts of animals and punishment from her mind, they were unimportant. In the end, the biggest hurdle Weiss had to face was the headmaster himself.

_'Partners by eye contact indeed_.'

Insanity, that's what it was, but there was nothing she could do to change the situation. Weiss had to find Pyrrha before anyone else could. If only she knew how to go about it. She had no idea where Pyrrha had ended up or how to find her way around a forest.

Ruins to the north. That was a start. Everybody had to go there eventually. And north was… judging by the position of the sun… and the time of the day… and the mossy side of the trees… just about—

* * *

Yang loved to fly. She loved the feeling of speed as the wind rushed past her. She loved the freedom that came with soaring through the sky uninhibited by the need to stand on solid ground. She loved the feeling of complete weightlessness as she reached the apex of her trajectory. She loved the sense of dread and excitement that accompanied her free fall as the ground hurtled towards her at a speed that should spell certain death on impact.

In short, if the way the headmaster had kicked off their initiation was anything to go by, it was bound to be a great day.

Yang had lucked out with her choice of platform. She had seen Ruby and a couple of others gently pushed over the edge while she had been flung up high into the sky. Higher than anyone else. She could only imagine what those fun little deathtraps could do if she pushed them beyond the safety limits, which she was going to do the moment she got her hands on the controls.

Unfortunately, the experience was short-lived, even for her. Far too soon, the ground started to close in, and the trees turned back from a hazy green blur into distinct entities.

It was time to consider her options. She could always let gravity do the work for her, but she didn't like the idea of feeling sore for days if she could avoid it.

There had to be a better way. She closed her eyes and pondered her situation for a moment before inspiration struck: There was no need to land if she just kept flying!

* * *

Ruby was running through the Emerald Forest in what most people would consider a dead sprint. Thanks to her semblance, it was the equivalent of a light jog.

"Yang!"

Ruby knew that Yang had been trying to push her away in order to stand on her own two feet. Which was totally a silly idea, she could perfectly well do that and be with her sister at the same time.

"Yaaaang!"

After all, what alternatives were there? A partner she could work well with. Yang was a perfect fit. They had grown up together, they knew each others strengths and weaknesses, and their styles mashed. Strength and speed; an almost unbeatable combination.

No one else at Beacon came even close to her sister. Even if they did, how would she know? They had only just arrived a day before and she hadn't had the chance to get to know anyone, yet.

Well, aside from Jaune. He was nice and funny but also kind of clumsy and insecure. He probably wouldn't be any good in a fight, what with the way he kept fumbling with his weapon.

There was Blake. So mysterious, so calm. Plus, she liked books. But then again she might not be able to hold a conversation with her about anything besides books.

Maybe Raven then? He was smart and seemed to know a lot about weapons, so that was a plus. But then again he didn't seem to like her or her sister much, what with the way he had ran away from them on the airship.

There wasn't anyone else, was there? She had run into a couple of people, but she hadn't managed to strike up a single conversation that hadn't ended with her being insulted or looked down upon.

No, there was Yang, Jaune, Blake, and—

* * *

Blake walked calmly through the forest, occasionally killing any grimm that wandered into her path, her mind caught up in quite a quandary. In theory, she was in a great position at the head of the pack. By the time the stampede of inexperienced students would be making its way through the forest, drawing out every grimm for miles, she would be long gone.

Reach temple, find partner, pick relic, return. The order of point one and two didn't matter for the overall success of the mission. Staking out the temple was the most sensible course of action.

Certainly more so than canvassing the vast expanse of the Emerald Forest. Everybody had to go there eventually, and whoever got there early should make for an adequate partner. They would be goal-oriented and competent.

The sound of a distant explosion stopped her in her tracks. It was unmistakable. Someone had discharged a dust weapon. Something big and powerful, like a shotgun or a high-caliber rifle.

Moment's later, the sound repeated, only louder. Whoever it was, was coming her way.

Blake merged into the foliage. The threat of the headmaster's scheme was still looming over her, and she was not relinquishing what little control she had left over her fate.

Another explosion. This time, she could hear a faint voice accompanying it.

Bang!

"Woohoo!"

Blake blinked in disbelieve. It couldn't be…

Bang!

Excited laughter accompanied a yellow flash streaking past over her head.

Bang!

"Ali-oop!"

Bang!

More laughter.

The pattern continued, getting quieter with every iteration.

Blake sat on her branch, her mouth slightly ajar, trying to process what she had just witnessed.

Yang was the type of person who, in any situation she found herself in, would try to have fun first and foremost. But this was just too far, her behavior was unprofessional, irresponsible and selfish. She wasn't just a troublemaker, she was a danger to herself and to anyone around her.

Blake's entire life had been dominated by the needs of the cause, never her own. She had felt content, even happy, about well-executed missions, but it was serious work that needed to be done, not something to be enjoyed.

Yang was different. Her expression was genuine. She lived in the moment, following her own desires, and Blake envied her for it. That made her more dangerous than anything else.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she made a decision she might very well come to regret for the rest of her life…

* * *

Yang was completely lost in her excitement. The forest canopy was rushing past her in a green blur as she rolled sideways, backward, or forwards with every boost of speed. Ember Celica was built for massive recoil, which she used liberally while fighting, but she had never tried to chain it together in order to fly, before.

Unfortunately, the ride wouldn't last. She was too close to the trees to have any chance of reloading without crashing, but that didn't mean that she would stop before she ran out of shells.

The forest had other ideas. She had just turned on her back, enjoying the sensation of flying blind mere feet above the canopy, when one particularly tall tree fished her out of the air. She was sent into a tumble of green and brown swirls as she smashed through the foliage like a cannonball.

After leaving a trail of destruction through several of the pesky tree's neighbors, she emerged in a small clearing.

Her speed had dropped considerably, and she managed to stabilize her wild tumble just in time to avoid smashing, face first, into a massive tree trunk. She pushed herself off of it with her foot and bounced from tree to tree on her way down until she landed in a forward roll with a cocky "Nailed it!"

The adrenaline was still rushing through her system and her heart was racing fast when she came to a halt. One thought dominated her entire being: again!

The moment she found the controls for those launch pads, she was going to do that again, and maybe drag some (un)lucky boy with her.

A few deep breaths later, she had started to come down from her high and took inventory of her surroundings. She had ended up in a moderately large clearing roughly to the north of the cliffs. Aside from that, she was entirely lost. She didn't know how far she had come or if she had drifted off course. For all she knew, she could walk right past the ruins and wander the forest for days without seeing another soul or finding her destination.

Some leaves rained from her head as shook it in frustration. She brushed her long, golden mane over her shoulder and sighed. She had turned into a shrubbery. Things were just getting better and better. She picked out the biggest branches stuck in her hair and brushed off the leaves clinging to the outside, but there was no way she was going to get it all out of her wild mane without some serious grooming.

She took a peek back the way she had come. A large hole was cut through the foliage in a straight line. The blue sky was shining through the hole in the otherwise almost opaque forest roof. At least the trees were in worse shape than she was in.

Standing around inspecting the damage she had caused wasn't going to get her anywhere though. She held Ember Celica up and slid back the heavy, metal plates covering the ammunition feed. There was one unspent shell left in each bracer.

She sighed again. That stupid tree couldn't have let her have just one more burst before bringing her down…

The unloading mechanism activated. The shell casings, which had been safely locked in a ring just above her wrists, exploded outwards in all directions. Yang picked up the two unspent shells and stuffed them in the leather satchel worn on her belt. No point in wasting perfectly good ammunition... not by throwing it away, anyways.

She had plenty of better, more fun, ways of wasting ammunition.

She pulled out two new ammo belts and locked them into place. The protective plates moved back with a satisfying double click.

Reloaded and ready for a fight, it was time to figure out where to go. She hadn't noticed anyone else in the air this far out, which made it a safe bet that she had turned into the vanguard of their expedition. She could head backward to look for people, but she had no idea where to start.

Well, no point in worrying about spilled milk. Ember Celica folded back into its bracelet form before Yang put her hands together behind her head and strolled off towards the north. Someone or something interesting was bound to come up sooner or later, so she would have to just wait and see.

_'I wonder what it would be like to have a cute boy as my partner.'_

She trailed off as her thoughts turned to more... lecherous subjects

* * *

This could not be happening!

A figure clad in red and black had come to a grinding halt right in front of Weiss.

She absolutely would not accept this!

The little interloper who had hounded her ever since she had set foot on Beacon was staring at her, frozen in place. Neither of them was willing to move a muscle.

It had to be a bad dream. She would wake up any moment now, wrapped in that flea infested blanket the school had handed out.

The little girl broke their standoff. Her surprised expression turned into an uneasy smile before she tried to take a step towards Weiss.

No! Absolutely not! She was supposed to be with someone that could be considered her equal. Someone like Pyrrha. She would not spend the next four years of her life looking after some useless little brat!

Weiss turned on her heels and walked away.

"Wait! Where are you going? We're supposed to be teammates…"

Over her dead body! This was all the headmaster's fault, anyways. What kind of mad scheme was choosing your partner by eye contact? He and his staff should have evaluated their applications, their entrance exams, and their _résumés_. They should have made an informed decision, which, undoubtedly, would have lead them to the only possible conclusion: The most suitable partner for Weiss Schnee was Pyrrha Nikos.

At least the little girl had the good sense not to follow her. They were far away from prying eyes and it was her word against the girl's. She could deny ever having met her and, as soon as she found Pyrrha, all would be fine.

The path Weiss had taken lead to a dead end. She was surrounded by bushes and greenery, and her only way out would lead her right back to the last person on Remnant she wanted to see. With little choice left, she pushed through and moved on.

Her attempt of traversing the underbrush turned out far less graceful than her landing. Her skirt and jacket kept getting snagged on branches and, more than once, she almost stumbled into one of the thorn-covered abominations dotted throughout the area.

She emerged from the underbrush with a sigh of relief. Green stains and small tears covered her clothes. There was no saving them, but that was to be expected. Her field outfit might have been made from breathable high-tech fabrics and designed to be acceptable daywear in an urban setting, but in the end it was nothing but an easily replaced and expendable piece of equipment, no different from dust or ammunition.

"Come on, come on! Stupid…"

Barely audible rambling drew her attention upwards. Weiss froze for the second time that day. She had been wrong. Things could get worse. There, high up in a tree, hung what had to be the only person she was less keen on running into than the little brat: that scraggly nobody with a crush on her.

The moment he spotted her, he smiled, waved, and laughed in embarrassment. It was too much for Weiss. Two people could claim to have run into her before she could find Pyrrha. Two people could claim to be her partner.

She turned on her heels and walked back the way she had come. Plausible deniability was slipping out of her grasp and, if she had to be stuck with one of them, the girl should turn out to be the lesser evil. She was young, malleable, and must have some talent to be allowed into Beacon at her age. It might take time, but Weiss could mold her into something usable.

She heard the boy groan in dejection as she disappeared into the bushes. The little girl—Ruby was it?—was still standing at the very same spot with her head hanging low. Weiss was not sure what to make of her, but she could worry about that later. For now, they had to move.

She had already failed the first half of her mission, and she was not about to perform poorly on the second by dilly-dallying. Walking past Ruby, she grabbed her hood and dragged her along.

"You came back!"

"By no means does this make us friends."

* * *

Jaune was in a pickle. He was in the mother of all pickles. The pickliest mother of all pickly pickles ever pickled.

Maybe comparing his current situation to pickles wasn't the best idea he had ever had. After all, it would have to be one hell of a pickle to come close to being nailed to a tree high up in a forest teaming with nightmarish beasties.

Of course, being nailed to a tree was better than being dead on the ground after having been thrown off a towering cliff by a madman posing as a headmaster. The only reason he hadn't turned into a bloody smear was the serendipitous appearance of the spear that had caught his collar during his wild tumble through the air.

Thinking about it, the spear had been as likely to run him through as it had been to save him. More so actually, there was so much more of him than there was of his hood. Where had it even come from?

He stared at it for a moment. There wasn't much of a point in worrying about what could have been, was there? He had gotten lucky and survived the insanity he had been thrown into unharmed, which was more than he could have hoped for.

The whole idea of him coming to Beacon to become a great hunter was turning more and more into a nightmare. It hadn't even been his idea to come here in the first place, but nobody had paid any attention to that little detail just as nobody had bothered to properly prepare him for the experience.

It was only his second day at the school, but it felt like he could have died several times over already.

The airship ride had conspired with his stomach to not only make him sick but put him in harms way of a very attractive and, apparently, somewhat excitable girl that might still send him on an extended hospital stay the next time they met.

It hadn't deterred him, though. He had done as his father had told him to and shown confidence no matter the situation. Great advice that got him rejected by half the girls in his class already. Confidence was not all women were looking for, it seemed. In fact the only girl he had gotten along with was Ruby with whom he had mostly been himself.

He would have to have a word with his father about that.

But it all paled in comparison to the general madness that seemed to affect just about everyone he had met at Beacon.

Ruby was nice, but she was swinging around that monster of a scythe like it was a toy rather than some wicked tool of death and destruction.

There was her sister who, if Ruby was to be believed, balanced beauty with excessive amounts of violence dished out for no good reason other than for self amusement, and if she was anything like his sisters, perceived perversion on the part of any and all males.

And then there was the headmaster who gave weird speeches and his assistant who carried a riding crop wherever she went. There wasn't a single horse at Beacon, just herds of students. So, what exactly was that thing for?

The two of them were the ones responsible for the whole getting thrown off a cliff without a parachute thing. And the students had just gone along with it without complaint. Worse, most of them had been excited at the prospect.

He shook his head. There was one ray of hope on the horizon: Weiss. Glorious, beautiful, fair Weiss. His Snow Angel. The girl of his dreams.

And Pyrrha. He still couldn't believe it. The _Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes_ model, a real life celebrity, right there among his classmates. He took a closer look at the long, pointy stick standing between him and a very unpleasant drop.

It looked awfully familiar.

That solved the issue of finding himself a partner. He could just… hang around until Pyrrha dropped by to reclaim her weapon. She was beautiful and famous. He could do a lot worse for a partner, like a certain violent blond or that hyperactive orange-haired girl.

She was no Weiss, though, and being found stuck in a tree unable to get down wouldn't do much for his reputation. He had his armor, his shield bearing his family's crest, and his sword. What was supposed to happen was obvious to him: The knight in shining armor should save the day and the beautiful maiden in the nick of time from the evil dragon.

He looked down at himself. His armor wasn't exactly shining, it could do with a bit of a polish, his shield was dinged up and sword were covered in nicks and scratches from their long use by past Arc warriors. That would have to do. After all, legends were always a little bit embellished. By the time he would tell Jaune Jr. and the little Snowflake about how he and Mommy had met, he would be the perfect picture of a heroic knight.

Should be easy enough. All he had to do was get down from the tree, find Weiss, preferably threatened by something like a lone beowolf, he could deal with a lone beowolf… probably, and save his damsel in distress to earn her eternal gratitude. Easy-peasy.

He grabbed the spear with both hands and tried to pull it out. It didn't budge. He tried waggling it up and down, left and right; nothing worked. The thing was stuck.

He sighed. The first hurdle on his epic journey, and he was failing already.

He tried again with more vigor.

"Come on, Come on! Stupid pointy stick!"

Jaune had been so engrossed in his struggle, he had almost missed the white figure that had stepped out of the underbrush close to his tree.

He stared at her for a moment. She stared back. Both of them had frozen in surprise. There was his Snow Angel in the flesh. It wasn't the way the story was supposed to go, it would need a lot of embellishing, but they had achieved eye contact. That sealed the deal.

He waved at her trying his best to make a good impression, but he failed miserably. Weiss turned on her heels and walked back the way she had come. He was about to call out to her when he spotted Ruby on the other side of the bushes.

Weiss was headed straight for her. It dawned on him then that he wasn't the first person she had run into. The woman of his dreams and his only female friend at Beacon were off the market in one fell swoop. Not to mention the demise of his starring role as knight in shining armor.

"You came back!" Ruby said as she was dragged away by Weiss.

No doubt about it, he had lost his chance and he was still stuck in a tree.

"Wait!" He flailed his arms wildly in hopes of drawing their attention. "Come back! Who's going to get me down from here?"

Neither Weiss nor Ruby seemed to notice or care. He sighed and resigned himself to his fate.

"Jaune?" a familiar voice called out to him.

He looked down and found Pyrrha standing next to his tree with her arms crossed. His eyes widened and he quickly averted his gaze with a blush. Her shoulder-less, low-cut armor wasn't designed to be viewed from his angle. Especially, when her crossed arms helped to perfectly accentuate... things.

"Do you... have any spots left on your team?"

He crossed his arms and scoffed at her. "Very funny."

The last thing he needed in his situation was someone to make fun of him, but he quickly realized how silly his reaction was. Pyrrha had saved him from falling to his death, she was one of the nicer people he had met, and she actually wanted to team up with him. If anything, he had gotten lucky.

He looked down, putting a lot of effort into keeping his eyes on her face, and smiled shyly at her. She smiled back with a gentle expression.

Yep, a lucky break for sure.

* * *

Weiss's dream of dominance over the student body with Pyrrha at her side had gone up in smoke. Even if she could manage to get into a team with Pyrrha, Ruby would always be her partner. She was stuck with her no matter what.

"What's the hurry?" Ruby asked as if it wasn't obvious to anyone with half a brain.

"I will not let my mission be delayed because you are too slow! I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your—"

A red blur passed her by.

"What the?"

Ruby appeared out of nowhere with a stupid grin on her face. She looked like a silly kitten, or perhaps a puppy, standing on its hind legs and waiting to be praised.

"I'm not slow, see?" Ruby put her hands on her hips and looked at Weiss with a self-satisfied smile. "You don't have to worry about me."

"When did you…?"

Against her better judgment, Weiss was impressed. Ruby had good control over her semblance for someone her age, but her attitude needed a bit, no a lot, of work.

"Weiss, just because I don't exactly know how to deal with people, doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters."

Weiss crossed her arms and eyed her skeptically. Being able to flit around a battlefield was not enough to make her a good fighter, but at least, she was honest about her abysmal social skills.

Ruby jumped to Weiss's side and put her arm around her shoulders. "You're about to see a whole different side of me today."

"Ugh" she made a noise of disgust at the contact, but Ruby either didn't notice or care. She couldn't believe the little brat's audacity. How dare she touch her so casually.

"After it's all over, you're going to be like, 'Wow! That Ruby girl is really, really, cool…'" she lowered her voice, almost like she had noticed how much of a fool she was making of herself, "'and I wanna be her friend.'"

Weiss rolled her eyes. Friends? She had come to Beacon to prove herself as a huntress, not to play schoolgirl and make friends. Before she could raise her objections, she was engulfed in a storm of rose petals.

Ruby was gone again.

Weiss sighed. It all was just one big game for that stupid girl.

"You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!"

Weiss waited for Ruby to pop up in another red blur.

"Ruby?"

Nothing happened and worry was starting to creep in. She might not like the girl, but she was her partner. Losing her would, undoubtedly, ruin her grade.

Leaves rustled behind her.

"Ruby…? This is not the time to play games!"

A faint grumble rose from the underbrush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was plagued with writer's block, which might show during Blake's scenes. Specifically, the one where Yang zips past her, which was rewritten five times before I gave up on it. Sorry if the quality is not up to par.
> 
> I do think Weiss and Jaune's first pov scenes worked out reasonably well, which is surprising, since Weiss is a pain in the ass to write. There's a fine line between likable bitch and genuine bitch, and up until season 2 she is a genuine racist bitch, though I want you all to know that her views on faunus, among other things, are not her own views, but those imposed on her by her family (especially her father, the crown prince of douche bags) and while I personally like Jaune (he's my favorite character), I unfortunately have to write him as a weakling who was taught some questionable things growing up.
> 
> As far as the action scenes are concerned… well, I'm sorry. I tried. Action scenes are one of the things I'm normally good at, but I'm forcing myself to write through my writers block, and I'm afraid its showing.
> 
> I thought about it, and since faunus only have 1 animalistic trait, when I had to decide to get rid of Raven's fangs or his tail I decided on neither. I decided I could keep his tail, and justify the presence of fangs by making him venomous (venomous snakes have slit pupils and nonvenomous snakes have round pupils). He is a snake after all. Faunus having venom shouldn't just be a villain trait. Could even become a plot point later on.
> 
> That is all. Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. The Emerald Forest

Yang was walking through the Emerald forest without a care, her hands folded behind her head and her face set in a lecherous grin. A while back she had the thought that she might not end up on a team with her sister, or even any girls at all for that matter.

Her mind subsequently dropped down into the gutter and stayed there. She was vaguely aware of her surroundings, and would know if she was attacked by a grmm, but the majority of her attention was spent focusing on the fantasy playing out in her mind.

In her mind she ended up with three hot boys, one with white hair, as teammates, each of them occupying one of her holes.

Yang let out a perverted giggle, and the girl spying on her from the branches sweatdropped in disbelief that this blonde airhead would choose now of all times to lose herself in her perverted fantasies.

She detected movement nearby and opened her eyes, filing away her fantasy for later.

Not particularly caring who heard her, she called out "hello?"

When a few seconds went by without seeing anyone she called again "is anyone out there? Hello?"

She stopped and when the silence continued she wildly gesticulated with her arms and shouted "I'm getting bored here!"

She perked up when she heard a rustling in the bushes behind her and turned to walk in that direction "is someone there?"

Yang placed her hands on the, hopefully, sturdy ranches of the bush to stabilize herself and leaned over to peek behind the brush. "Ruby, is that you?"

A large black form rose up from the brush, and she couldn't help wondering how such a large grimm managed to hide behind a couple of bushes.

Like most grimm, the ursa had a bone mask with red markings covering its face, as well as the bone spikes protruding from its stocky arms, back, and knees. Its hands and feet are also tipped with long, sharp, white claws.

Yang simply stood there, staring at the grimm for a moment, before pushing the thoughts from her mind and simply saying "nope!" These things were most definitely not Ruby. But she didn't mind, she could still have her fun.

Yang quickly rolled to the side as the ursa charged out of the brush. She rose to her feet and activated her Ember Celica, her breasts jiggling from the movement of her arms, and stared at the monster with a smirk before another ursa runs out behind her. She leaped over its head and its companion attempted to charge her again, but was knocked back by a fiery punch for its trouble, but got back to its feet seconds later and readied itself for another attack.

The second ursa charged at Yang, and she responded in kind, and Yang slid under its forelegs, jumped to gain upward momentum, and sent a fiery uppercut to its jaw, staggering the beast. Before the grimm could regain its bearings, she cocked back her arm and sent another fiery punch and a kick, sending the creature flying back.

"You guys-" she said when she caught her breath "-wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you?" Whether the ursai heard and ignored her or not, they simply growled at her. Smirking, Yang said "you could just say 'no'."

One of the Ursai stood on its legs and swipes at her twice, and Yang dodged the first by hurriedly leaning her upper body back, but she had to jump away when the second swipe came uncomfortably close to her face. Force field or not, a strike from an ursa would still hurt like a bitch and would take a good chunk out of her aura.

Yang laughed uproariously "geez"she mocked the grimm, ignoring the close miss "you two couldn't hit the broad side of a ba..." her voice fades away as she notices a strand of gold falling from her forehead.

Her eyes crossed, and when the strand of her hair came into focus.

Anger had replaced the playful tone in Yang's voice. Her eyes were closed, her facial expression had become hard, and her entire body had gone rigid. Even the ursai seemed caught by surprise at the sudden shift in tone and missed a perfect chance to strike.

The sight of the two bear grimm looking at each other in confusion would have been comical if Yang had been of any mind to appreciate it.

Yang opened her eyes again, but gone were the gentle lilac. In their place was a burning scarlet faced the glowing red orbs of the grimm.

Yang brought her arms up above her head, her hands balled into fists shaking in rage.

"You monsters!"

She exploded in a plume of flame as her arms came down in force. A burning-hot shock wave spread out, singing grass and leaves alike.

Yang's spy came to her senses just in time and dropped down and slipped behind the trunk of her former host so she could avoid the shock-wave of heat, but even having passed her by she could still feel the blistering heat.

What she could hear painted a vivid picture. An angry war cry was followed by explosions and the sound of breaking bones and rending flesh. The blond's already insane strength must have increased considerably, if the sound of the impacts was anything to go by.

Blake peeked around the tree only to see one of the ursai tumbling helplessly through the air.

Yang wasn't done. She was leaning forward like a runner at a standing start with her arms held backward. Flames sprung from the soles of her shoes and the tips of her fists as she launched herself at the airborne ursa. A brutal flurry of blows, each punctuated by another explosion, was unleashed and the already defenseless grimm thrown even farther.

There was no doubt that it was finished, but Yang wasn't. She launched herself at her opponent, again, and unleashed another vicious flurry. Her weapon, no, her entire lower arm flared up in golden flames as she threw her final blow.

The ursa was turned into a burning projectile, cutting a swath of destruction through the forest.

Blake stared at the smoldering hole. Massive tree trunks had exploded into splinters, their crowns were coming down to feed the fires left behind, and somewhere far off at the end lie a dissolving ursa buried under a pile of crackling firewood.

Yang was strong. Far stronger than she had any right to be, and worse was that her temper was on a literal hair trigger. She could only imagine what would happen if some poor schmuck ever decided to involve her hair in a prank. Blake shuddered in thought, what if someone without aura to protect them ever messed with Yang's hair? A civilian, or worse, a child.

These thoughts were for later, anyhow. For now, they were still in their initiation. She would, however, need to work with her to calm that temper of hers.

The second ursa came barreling towards Yang who had been inspecting her handiwork. She turned around. Glowing red met burning scarlet and the ursa stopped dead in its tracks.

Blake smirked and drew Gambol Shroud. A partner that could stare down a charging ursa was worth a dash of insanity.

"What! You want some, too?!" Yang taunted, but the still ursa fell to the ground, a black blade attached to a long black ribbon in its back. Yang's eyes followed the ribbon to its end, wrapped around the hand of the girl from the night before.

Panting heavily as the exhaustion hit her, Yang let her flames dissipate as the red bled from her eyes. Blake recalled the weapon back to her hand, the kusari-gama unfolding and becoming a black katana. She sheathed the blade in a large cleaver before she put it on her upper back, the sheath sticking to the magnetic plate there.

Yang, lilac eyed once again, crossed her arms and said in a confidant, albeit somewhat joking voice "I could've taken him."

Blake merely shook her head with a put-upon sigh in response.

* * *

Weiss withdrew Myrtenaster from its sheath at her side.

This was it, the moment of truth. She had trained hard using the best combat instructors and training facilities money could buy. She had studied the use of dust extensively in theory and in practice. Countless hours of her life over the past year had been spent honing her skills for this moment, and she had every confidence that she would live up to the challenge. After all, she had aced Beacon's entrance exams, proving that she had what it took to become a huntress.

Despite all that, meeting the real thing, finding herself surrounded by glowing red eyes, did not leave her unfazed. Winning a training simulation in a known environment with all manners of safety precautions in place and a top of the line medical facility next door was very different from being stuck in the wilderness, surrounded and without backup.

Almost without backup. "Ruby!" Where the hell had the little brat gone?

A beowolf jumped out of the underbrush. It bared its fangs in a vicious snarl followed by a bone-chilling howl. On command, the forest all around Weiss came to life, and lurking red eyes turned into the beasts of nightmares that were the grimm.

Weiss held Myrtenaster out in front of her in a defensive stance. For a moment that seemed seemed to stretch on forever, nothing happened. The pack seemed wary of attacking, and Weiss couldn't move one way or another without giving them an opening.

One adventurous grimm finally lunged at her swinging its vicious claws in a wide arc. Weiss brought up her blade blocking the attack. Her defense held, but she was pushed back several feet before she could steady her stance.

Even an ordinary beowolf was surprisingly strong, and those claws and fangs would do heavy damage if they caught her. Just waiting for the pack to take swings at her would get her nowhere but to an early grave.

Remember your training, Weiss. Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward - not that forward - steady your breathing, wait for the right time to strike and…

She brought her rapier up in line with her shoulders. The revolving cylinder above its hilt turned and locked into place, allowing the glowing red dust inside the chamber to spread throughout the hollows in the blade in an intricate pattern.

…now!

Weiss dashed forward, her movements fast and graceful like those of a dancer. She had aimed at the largest, the one she assumed was the leader of this pack, trying to cut off the snake's head in hopes of dispersing the pack. He was not ready for her assault. She had him dead to rights until a whirl of rose petals appeared in her path. It revealed Ruby swinging a massive scythe at the beast and shouting "Gotcha!"

But she hadn't. The beast had raised its spiked arm in defense. It blocked the attack and looked more annoyed than wounded. Even worse, Weiss was about to run her own partner through from behind. She barely managed to come to a halt in time.

Still stumbling forward, she lost control over the charged Myrtenaster and accidentally sent a large bolt of fire into the forest. A burning trail was left behind in its path before it hit a tree, which exploded and littered the area with burning pieces of wood and foliage.

Ruby, surprised by the sudden inferno, almost missed the alpha taking a swing at her. She managed to bring up her scythe to save herself from getting disemboweled but was thrown into Weiss who barely managed to keep on her feet.

"Hey, watch it!" Ruby complained.

"Excuse me! You attacked out of turn. I could have killed you!"

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that…" Ruby mumbled under her breath, insulted that her new partner thought her so fragile, as she got back on her feet.

Weiss almost wished she had run her through or gone with the scraggly blond boy instead, but it was not the time to quarrel among themselves. They were still surrounded by a pack of beowolves ready to tear them apart.

She positioning herself back-to-back with her partner and brought her rapier back up in a defensive position.

Ruby ejected a large red magazine from her scythe. It landed with a heavy thud, burying itself into the soft ground. The unwieldy weapon must use a massive caliber, not that it or the equally massive double blade at its head had done them any good so far.

She loaded a new magazine, swung her scythe around, and cocked the bolt-action mechanism to load a new round. The bladed head was standing out behind her ready to cleave anything that dared to approach them.

Weiss winced in disgust at the wasteful weapon. If a person's weapon was indicative of their personality, then that monstrosity spoke volumes of her partner. True, she could see legions of grimm falling to it, but she could say the same for her own rapier or Jaune's sword and shield. So much metal wasted, and on such an impractical thing as a scythe. Not only was such a weapon wasteful, but also overly specialized.

Such a weapon required great amounts of skill to wield properly, but such skill was specialized that it could only be called overspecialization... maybe even cripplingly so. Were the girl ever to find herself without her scythe, then she would be practically defenseless.

Weiss cleared her head of these thoughts and considered their options. They were surrounded, outnumbered, and on the defensive. Even worse, the fire was spreading fast, threatening to cut off their escape route.

Looking behind her, Weiss was shocked to see that her partner was almost vibrating in place. She wasn't shaking in fear, but in excitement. She was exited at the challenge, she wanted to kill each and every one of the beowolves without her partner getting in he way, fire or no fire.

She grabbed Ruby's arm and dragged her away. "We have to go!"

She didn't like running away, but it was the sound decision given the circumstances. Getting caught by a pack of beowolves on one side and a rapidly approaching wall of fire on the other would not end well.

Ruby looked like she was going to protest, but Weiss didn't give her the chance. She dragged the younger girl past the fire before it could trap them.

A couple of beowolves tried to chase them down but were caught in the fire. Pained whimpers were overshadowed by another bone-chilling howl from the alpha that signaled the pack's retreat from the growing inferno.

For the time being, they were safe, but the beowolves were unlikely to give up the chase that easily. They were bound to see them again soon unless some other unfortunate students crossed their path and provided enough of a distraction.

"Noooo" Ruby whined pitifully at being denied the chance to stroke her murder boner. Weiss looked back at the younger girl with a worried look in her eyes.

* * *

Ruby came to a stop on a hill overlooking the smoldering remains of the forest she and Weiss had left behind. There were no signs that they had been followed, and the fire was spreading the other way. It was the perfect time to confront her partner about their terrible performance.

Weiss was leaning over, trying to catch her breath. Their short sprint uphill had tired the rich princess out more than Ruby would have expected from a huntress-in-training. Stamina clearly hadn't been the focus of whatever training she had gone through before coming to Beacon.

"What was that? That should have been easy!"

It should have been. If she had been with Yang, the pack would be nothing but a bunch of dissolving corpses by now. The forest might still be on fire, but at least they would have won.

Weiss straightened and looked at her with narrowed, angry eyes. "Well, perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ruby scoffed.

"I am just surprised that someone who talks so much, would communicate so little during an encounter."

Ruby crossed her arms. "I'm sorry you need my help to win a fight. I'm just fine on my own!"

"Well-" Weiss said, rolling her eyes at her partners stubbornness, "congratulations on being the strongest _child_ to sneak its way into Beacon. Bravo!" Weiss turned around and walked away, leaving her partner behind.

Ruby couldn't take the girl's attitude anymore. She grabbed Crescent Rose from her back and, with an agitated shriek, sliced a tree clean through.

If she had expected any reaction from her partner, she would have been mistaken. Ruby sighed. Arguing with the rich princess was futile. She should have known so from the start. She should have known after the last three times they had run into each other. Weiss had no intention of even trying to get along.

She should have left the moment Weiss had walked away. She had clearly meant to ignore their meeting and look for someone else. If she had run off and kept looking for Yang, Weiss would never have been able to catch up with her.

Her partner disappeared behind some bushes. No matter how much the thought of losing Weiss appealed to Ruby, it would only complicate things at this point. She put Crescent Rose away and followed.

She couldn't wait for the day to be over…

Neither one of them were in any mood to dwell on anything but their own anger with each other, otherwise they might have noticed the large black feather floating down onto the tree that Ruby had cut down.

* * *

Jaune was exhausted. He'd been following Pyrrha for a while now, who only hoped she new where they were going, and while he had his fair share of endurance from his upbringing on the family farm, he just couldn't seem to keep up with Pyrrha.

Jaune wasn't an outdoorsy kind of guy. He like reading comic books or watching movies when he wasn't working. Lazing around on the couch with an assortment of his favorite snack foods after a long bath to relax his muscles from a hard day's work, that was his kind of afternoon.

But he just wasn't a trained fighter. As a kid he had always chickened out of his father's lessons and now he was feeling the consequences. He had the misfortune of being the only male heir of a family that traced its lineage back through history, one great champion of mankind after the other, and the sword and shield he had inherited had been the arms of choice for the head of the family for generations.

He sighed in dismay. On one side, he truly wanted to live up to his families legacy, but on the other he was wishing one of his older sisters had been a boy so he could be lazying around at home, safe and sound, working in the fields and catching up on his movie backlog instead of trekking through a dangerous forest.

Pyrrha had arrived at another wall of green. He sighed in dismay, knowing what that meant. More thorny bushes scratching his skin and snaring his clothes, more slimy vines sticking to his face, more spider webs clinging to him, and more weird insects crawling all over him. What fun!

His red-haired guide pushed through without hesitation. Pyrrha was showing no signs of exhaustion or slowing down. Not that he had expected her to. She was well built, very athletic, could throw that spear with pinpoint accuracy over hundreds of yards, and was some kind of great tournament champion. She probably could keep up the pace all day without skipping a beat.

Jaune wasn't sure how much longer he could go on without taking a break. Still, the knight doesn't ask the maiden for a break. Though, he was starting to feel like their roles had been reversed. So far, he had been rescued twice, and Pyrrha was leading them on their epic quest while he was just tagging along.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune straightened his spine and hastened his pace.

They had barely merged into the underbrush when a couple of explosions echoed through the forest.

"Did you hear that?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha looked over her shoulder. "Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

He wasn't sure what worried him more: that he had completely forgotten about being in grimm country and could be attacked at any moment or Pyrrha's lack of a reaction. She wasn't surprised or worried about a fight breaking out in the area and moved on as if nothing had happened.

Jaune tried to follow Pyrrha's example, but with every gunshot in the distance it became more difficult to ignore them. He kept peeking back, wondering if something was headed their way.

Not that it would make any difference. The thick underbrush limited his visibility to a couple of yards at best, and if anything came that close, it would take a bite out of him before he could draw his sword.

He forced his attention back to his partner. Pyrrha was strong. Someone with her reputation had to be. If anything happened, she would save the day. She had to…

Beacon so far hadn't played out how he had expected it to. He had thought that they would get some training before they would be thrown into any life-and-death situations. A survival trip through the wilderness on their second day hadn't been mentioned in the info material.

Another set of gunshots distracted him. Whatever was happening back there, was taking a long time. But at least it was a sign that whoever it was was still alive and the beasties were still distracted.

He barely spotted a brown flash before a sharp pain ran through his cheek, and he found himself sitting on his butt seeing stars.

Pyrrha turned around alarmed.

Jaune groaned and shook his head to clear his vision. Between him and Pyrrha stood a willowy branch exactly at the right height to hit his face. Pyrrha must have pushed it out of the way and it must have swung right into his face.

Great.

He tried to rub his cheek to ease the pain, but the moment he touched it, he felt another sting of pain. His fingertips were covered in blood.

Must have broken the skin, great.

Just great. If he could get hurt by a tree branch barely two days in, how was he going to survive the next four years.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha apologized with a note of confusion in her voice. Why hadn't her partner's aura protected him? Has it already ran out or was it so weak that the tree branch cut through it? Or was it even activated?

"It's okay. Just a scratch, see?"

Pyrrha's frown deepened as she stepped closer to him. "Why didn't you activate your aura?"

Jaune's eyes widened at her inquiry, and he put on a face of ignorance. Maybe if he tried to pretend that if he didn't know what aura was then he would get kicked out, which he wasn't sure if he wanted right now or not.

"My what?"

"Your aura." Pyrrha pressed insistently, and Jaune winced. He wasn't a good liar, and this wasn't going as he had hoped.

"Gesundheit?" He tried to deflect.

"Jaune," Pyrrha asked with deep wrinkles in her brows, "do you know what aura is?"

Jaune scoffed. Of course she was being like that. The truth was that he hasn't found out how to activate his aura yet. He would just have to hide the fact that he couldn't use it until he could read up on it in the library later.

"Of course I do!" Maybe he could use this. He didn't know how to activate his aura, and if she could tell him how then he should just keep playing the ignorant party. He felt bad manipulating her like this, but he'd just tell her the truth later. She would be too mad at him, would she?

He pointed at Pyrrha. "Do you know what aura is?"

Pyrrha's frown gave way to a gentle smile. "Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts."

Yeah, that didn't help at all.

"Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

"Uh, yeah."

Everyone has had that feeling.

"With practice, our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals."

"What about monsters?"

"No. The monsters we fight lack a soul. They are creatures of grimm, the manifestation of anonymity. They are the darkness, and we are the light."

Jaune nodded, "Right, that's why we fight them."

 **"** It's not about why; it's about knowing. Understanding dark and light helps us manifest our Aura. Everyone has some of both"

"By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting."

"It's like a force field!"

Pyrrha chuckled at his enthusiastic answer. "Yes, if you want to look at it that way."

She walked up to him until they came face to face. Jaune gulped nervously. He wasn't used to beautiful girl's getting into his personal space, and this was hardly the time to think about that sort of thing.

"Now," Pyrrha said as she raised her hand to cup his unharmed cheek, "close your eyes and concentrate."

"Uh, okay," Jaune complied. Did she know how to unlock his aura for him? His father always told him that it was something he had to figure out for himself so it never occurred to him to ask. Did he not read between the lines and not realize that he was supposed to ask for help?

He was an idiot.

Unseen by Jaune, a red glow outlined Pyrrha's body.

For a moment, nothing happened. A very long moment stretched out by anticipation and confusion. Suddenly, the skin Pyrrha was touching started to feel warm. He slight pressure on his chest, and he thought that she must have placed her other hand on his breastplate. It spread the same comfortable warmth throughout his body. Both streams converged at the center of his chest where they met and intertwined.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death."

The feeling at the center of his chest changed, ever so slightly, before it started to grow rapidly, flooding every cell of his body.

"I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."

Pyrrha's hands left his body, but the warm feeling remained. Jaune bathed in it. His surroundings and the danger they were in all but forgotten. Heavy breathing finally brought him back to reality. He opened his eyes to find Pyrrha standing hunched over, exhausted.

"Pyrrha?"

She straightened herself, but the exhaustion was still clearly visible on her face.

"It's all right, I used my aura to unlock yours. The energy that protects you now is your own."

Jaune looked down at his hands, noticing the white glow that seemed to surround his entire body. Little motes of white light were rising from his body only to disperse in the air before they could make it too far. His cheek was tingling. The pain was almost gone. He carefully touched the spot where he had been cut but found only his own pristine skin.

"You have a lot of it," Pyrrha said, impressed.

A barely audible "wow" was all Jaune could muster as he tried to take in the change he had undergone.

* * *

Raven stepped out of the treeline, walking slowly and somewhat lazily with his partner Vergil just behind him with a more energetic gait. "Well, this must be it" the snake faunus said, seeing the ruins of what looked like a rotunda. An entire third of the rotunda was collapsed and open, showing off the symmetrically designed ornate stone floor with thirty-two short stone columns with a single black or gold chess piece atop of each, though one of them was missing. Three of the taller columns on the right side were broken and lying around the area in pieces, while the remaining five stone were still standing , supporting the stone walls and holding up a circle of stones.

In the distance behind the rotunda there were additional ruins, long stone pillar-lined walkways leading to what was once a large temple made of metal and stone all throughout the mist canyon.

"Wow!" Vergil breathed, taking in the sight before rushing ahead toward the rotunda and the chess pieces. "Wait!" Raven reached out to Vergil to try to stop him, but the kid was too far away by the time he got his arm up. "We don't know what may be awaiting us! There may be traps!"

Vergil had already made it into the rotunda by this point, so Raven sighed and followed after him. "Aww, we're not the first ones here!" the young faunus cried at seeing the missing gold king piece. "Oh well, second place is just as good."

"It's not a race Vergil" Raven said amused at the kids unending optimism.

"Do you think these chess pieces are the relics we're supposed to be looking for?" Vergil asked him, picking up a black king piece.

Raven stopped and looked around with narrowed eyes. "Something's not right."

"Huh?"

"You just ran in here and took a relic. Why are there no traps? Why are no grimm appearing?"

"Well, maybe there are none? I mean the forest was filled with grimm, maybe the professors didn't see the need for another test beyond that?" Vergil said, though the unsure look on his face made it seem like he was grasping for answers, and finding none, said the first explanation that came to mind.

Raven hummed in thought. His entire career as a mercenary was telling him that he was walking into a trap. But maybe he was just being paranoid? This was a school entrance exam, not another one of his jobs.

He sighed and dropped his arms to his side "you're probably right." Vergil looked up in surprise that he older and smarter teen would agree with him. "We have the relic, let's go back to the cliff."

Raven turned on his heel and made for the treeline again, and with a loud and enthusiastic "ok" Vergil ran after him.

"But wait," Vergil said, stopping just behind him. Raven looked over his shoulder at the boy questioningly.

"How are we going to get back up? They just launched us off and I didn't see any stairs or anything!?"

Raven narrowed his eyes in thought before shrugging and said "we'll figure it out when we get there."

* * *

At the same time, one Lie Ren stood atop the body of his enemy, a dead but not yet disintegrating king taijutu.

He pressed a button on the side of his weapons, causing them to collapse in on themselves, and opening his hands, they fell into his sleeves, attaching themselves to the spring loaded mechanism that would launch them into his hands when he needed them again. He brushed off any dirt that may have gotten on his clothes from his encounter when he heard a strange from the treetops.

Knowing immediately what it was he suppressed a grin as his best friend Nora Valkyrie hung upside down in front of him, hanging from the tree branches by her feet.

Ren shook his head in amusement and said in a deadpanned tone "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like."

Instead of saying something in response, Nora grinned playfully and poked him in the nose, saying her famous catchphrase of "boop!"

He backed away, playing along with her game with an endearing grin on his face.

* * *

"The last pair has been formed, sir." Glynda said to an absentminded Ozpin, the man half paying attention to her and half paying attention to his own scroll. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Those two are going to be needing a lot of counseling." She said, bringing up their dossiers.

Two children who only had each other to rely on for most of their formative years did not make for an entirely healthy mindset.

"Still, they're probably better off than Miss Nikos and Mister Arc." Before this she had likely never even seen a grimm. She was a tournament fighter, and everything in her skill set, even her semblance, was obviously for fighting human or faunus combatants. On the other hand the Arc heir was a complete unknown. He seemed to come out of nowhere, with only his family name and ancestral weapons to differentiate himself from his peers.

But from what she had seen of him...

"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat." That said, she deactivated her scroll and went to stand beside her employer. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes."

A thought occurred to her and she turned to her employer "speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?" After a moment of silence from him she spoke up in a more insistent voice "Professor Ozpin?"

Ozpin doesn't answer, too busy watching his scroll with a contemplating interest as it showed the footage of Ruby Rose sitting irritably in the in the grass, picking stray leaves out of her hair and clothes while her partner Weiss Schnee walks in random directions, trying to find her bearings. Not an easy thing, as the girl was more used to more... wintry climes.

* * *

Ruby sat cross-legged on the soft forest floor, trying her hardest to forget where she was and who she was with. This whole thing would've turned out fine if she had found Yang instead of Weiss. Even Jaune would've been better, she probably would've had to take care of all the fighting by herself but that was fine with her, she liked fighting Grimm, it was fun.

She would have been the first to admit that she rushed ahead at the first sign of danger when she shouldn't have.

Plus he was nice and easy to talk to. _'Not like some people'_ she thought, looking at her partner with a sour look.

"It's definitely this way," Weiss said, pacing in one direction.

Ruby had found an almost perfectly almond-shaped leaf. She was reminded of the collection of dried and pressed leaves she had built up as a little girl on many a beautiful autumn day out with her dad and sister.

"I mean… this way! It's definitely this way," Weiss said, pacing in the opposite direction.

Ruby hadn't thought about her collection for years. It had been Yang's idea, really. Ruby had found a funny leaf—it had holes in it that made it look like a smiling face—and had shown it off to her sister. She had told Ruby, that they could make it last forever if they put it in a book. Something big and heavy.

After they had gotten home, Yang had stolen a large encyclopedia from their father's study. He hadn't been happy about it, but after Ruby had proudly shown off the first specimen of her collection, he had let Yang off the hook, provided she would ask before taking his things in the future.

Naturally it was a conversation that occurred again and again over the years.

Ruby sighed and let the leaf drift to the ground. Collecting leaves was a pastime for little children, not for a huntress-in-training, and no matter how pleasant the memories they weren't helping her current situation.

Weiss stopped in front of Ruby. "Alright, it's official; we passed it."

Ruby couldn't take it anymore, she growled and sprang to her feet. "Why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?"

"Because I know exactly where we're going! We're going to… the forest temple!"

Ruby groaned. She had reached the point where she felt like smacking the princess, not because it would help their situation, but simply because it might make her feel better. If she was Yang, she would probably have done so half an hour ago... repeatedly. But Ruby was a less firm believer in the problem solving power of a strong fist, and her relationship with her partner was strained enough already.

"Oh, stop it! You don't know where we are, either!" Weiss said.

"Well, at least I'm not pretending to know everything!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a big, stupid jerk," Ruby stamped her foot, "and I hate you!"

Weiss groaned. She spun around and started walking off, again. "Just keep moving!"

Ruby, fed up with her partner's attitude, resorted to the next best thing to slugging her: a mocking imitation. "Oh, just keep moving! Hurry up! Waaaah!" She rubbed her eyes to pantomime crying, "watch where you are going!"

When Weiss didn't respond to Ruby's taunts, she took a more direct approach. "Why are you so bossy?"

"I'm not bossy!" Weiss continued in a much less confrontational tone, "Don't say things like that."

Ruby, unfortunately, hadn't caught the hint of self-consciousness in the girl's voice. "Stop treating me like a kid!"

"Stop acting like a kid!"

"Well, stop acting like you're perfect!"

"I'm. Not. Perfect!"

The fight came to a crashing halt. Ruby and Weiss were staring at each other. Neither of them seemed to have expected Weiss's admission.

Weiss was the first to recover. "Not yet." She took a couple of steps backward. "But I'm still leagues better than you."

Ruby just stood there watched her partner walk off yet again.

"You don't even know me…" she mumbled to herself dejectedly as she watched Weiss walk away.

* * *

Another set of partners emerged from the treeline.

Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna stepped out into the clearing.

"Think this is it?" Yang asked her partner absentmindedly.

Blake gives Yang an incredulous look in response, as if to say _what do you think_ and headed down the hill with her partner following close behind. Blake walked slowly across the floor, carefully observing the items on each pedestal. 32 pedestals, a gold or black chess piece atop each one, albeit with a few missing, and since obviously their were quite a few pawn pieces, there were numbers carved into their sides.

"Chess pieces?" She said confusedly, expecting something more... more. She didn't know what she was expecting, but this was not it.

These were the relics? Was there some hidden meaning here? Were they booby trapped? Was there some kind of technology hidden inside the pieces?

Blake began look around for traps or anything else that might spring out from behind cover when they grabbed a piece. I could not be this easy, nothing ever was.

"Some of them are missing" Yang pointed out carelessly, looking over her shoulder at Blake. "Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

Blake blinked in thought, "well, I guess we should... pick one?"

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha, having since cleared the brush, were standing at the mouth of a dark cave. There were what looked like chalk drawings surrounding the opening of what seemed to be armed men against giant beasts.

"Think this is it?" He knew they were supposed to be looking for something, and a spooky looking cave was as good as anything else, right? Plus, Ozpin already launched them off of a cliff, he seemed like the type of guy to hide the relics, whatever they were, inside of a dark, creepy cave... likely filled with dangerous traps and monsters.

Oh well, he already came this far, no path left now but the one that leads to the end.

* * *

The cave had not been a good idea. It was dark, damp, full of weird insects hiding in the shadows, and even though Ozpin seemed like a total troll, they seriously doubted that this was part of the test.

Jaune wasn't ready to give up on it, though. It had been the first decision he had made since he had met Pyrrha, since this mess of a day had started in fact, and he wasn't ready to admit defeat. Luck was on his side, after all.

Or it seemed to be. He was still alive after all, even when he was the only student hopeful who couldn't use his aura.

"I'm not sure this is it," Pyrrha said, unsure of herself even as she said it. Who knew what kind of test a sadist like Ozpin (though she was far too nice to ever say that out loud) would devise?

His partner had been dropping vague hints about her doubts ever since they had arrived at the cave, but she was too nice to complain directly. He suspected that that was going to become a trend.

"Pyrrha, I made the torch" he was rather proud of that one, having never needed to build one before he was rather too happy with that admittedly meager accomplishment, "could you at least humor me for, like, five more feet?"

She didn't have to as it turned out. Sure, she clammed up when he said it, but looking over his shoulder to talk to Pyrrha while moving ahead turned out to be a bad idea. He slipped on the wet stone floor and fell face first into a large puddle of stale water... at least he really hoped it was water.

He grumbled as he got up very carefully, making sure that he wouldn't take a second dip. Luck might have finally forsaken him… it had already forsaken his torch, pride goeth before the fall, huh?

"Do you feel that?" Pyrrha asked, helping him up with a hand on his arm.

"Soul-crushing regret?" Jaune asked sardonically, his shoulders hunched in depression.

"No, it's... warm" she narrowed her eyes, looking around them. They were in a cold, dark cave.

What could possibly be warm down here?

Well other than Jaune and her own cheeks.

* * *

Back at the temple with Blake and Yang, Yang was walking in circles, her eyes roving over the relics one by one.

"Hmmmm..." she hummed in thought, staring at the golden knight piece, weighing the pros and cons of picking it up. But in the end she just shrugged and took it.

"How about a cute little pony?" she yelled to her partner, lifting the piece up for her to see. Blake smirked at her partners enthusiasm "sure." She turned and made her way to the opening of the temple, where Yang was also walking, albeit with more of a skip in her step.

"That wasn't too hard!" Yang exclaimed happily with a grin, folding her hands behind her head.

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find." She reasoned, this was a school initiation after all, it should have been too hard aside from having to face a forest full of grimm. She was just being paranoid after all.

* * *

Neither Pyrrha nor Jaune were looking for the relic anymore, not that there was much to look for in total darkness. Mostly, Jaune was wondering how long he would have to continue on before he could head back outside without looking like a complete idiot. Pyrrha was humoring him, occasionally looking out for what had made that warm sensation she felt before.

Just as he was about to declare their cave expedition concluded and turn them around, the wall he had been hugging vanished and some golden, bulbous… thing appeared in front of him, emitting a faint yellow glow.

Jaune blinked owlishly for a second before grinning and exclaiming "that's the relic!" His luck hadn't left him, after all. Pyrrha, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. She readied her weapons in case this turned out to be a trap. Who was she to say that this wasn't the relic and that she wasn't just being paranoid.

Jaune tried to grab the glowing bulb by the pointy bit at the bottom, but missed. That was odd, it looked like it dodged his hands, but it was pitch black and his eyes were only just adjusting to the light emitted by the relic. He must have misjudged the distance.

He tried to grab it again and it moved out of the way again. Had to have been an optical illusion. Relics didn't move on their own.

"Bad relic!"

Not taking any more chances, he jumped it and grabbed it with both hands. This time, it didn't get away. "Gotcha!" he said, hanging from the glowing bulb.

Wait, how could he be hanging from the relic?

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.

The relic moved on its own, revealing two rows of glowing red dots. Jaune squinted his eyes, trying to make out what he was looking at. The dots were glued to something, like, a big rock maybe? A big rock with red squiggles painted on it.

Right, a moving relic attached to a big, painted rock… that had just moved.

The rock hissed threateningly before it started to move some more, as did the floating relic whose very pointy lower bit was pointed right at him.

A terrified shriek brought the cave to life…

* * *

"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang shouted upon hearing a loud shriek echoing from the forest. "Blake, did you hear that?"

Blake didn't answer her, instead she was staring at a small black in the sky, a small black dot that was getting larger.

* * *

Pyrrha was running, fast. She was running a lot faster than she had ever expected to have to run through a slippery cave in total darkness. But what choice did she have? She had never even seen a grimm before today, and now a giant scorpion grimm was chasing her! This was not an enemy for a huntress-in-training to face on her own on her second day at Beacon at all, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

She slipped on a wet stone and stumbled. A minor setback, but enough for her pursuer to take a swing at her with its giant pincers. It missed thankfully, but was still too close for comfort. Pyrrha could feel it glance off the round shield she kept on her back.

The huge scorpion grimm was getting too close for comfort. Rescuing Jaune would have to wait until she got out of the cave and had some room to maneuver. At least he was holding on steady. Turning around to check on her partner was not a luxury Pyrrha could afford, but the last time she had seen him he was hugging the side of the bulbous stinger, thankfully well away from the sharp tip.

If his continued hysterical screams were anything to go by, his position hadn't changed.

The monster took another swing at her. She managed to feel it coming this time. It was even closer than before and forced her to drop into a roll hoping to avoid getting smashed into the wall. Back on her feet, she could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Literally, not figuratively, much to her relief. The blow had missed and she was about to leave the grimm's domain behind.

The daylight seeping into the cave through the entrance allowed her to run faster and put some much-needed distance between her and her pursuer without the risk of a broken neck curtsy of the slippery cave floor. The effect on the grimm was the exact opposite, not because it shied away from the light, but because the cave had been steadily narrowing down towards the exit.

Feeling the sunlight on her skin was a welcome change, but there was no time to get distracted. She put some distance between herself and the entrance before she turned around and unfolded Miló from its sword into its spear form.

The small cave entrance acted as a muffler, casting an eerie silence over the scene. She wondered if she had gone too far. The scorpion might have given up its pursuit and focused on Jaune, who was in no condition to face a grimm of that level by himself. She had to save her partner somehow, which meant going back inside. Suicidal as that was, it was the only available option.

Just as she was about to hurry back, the cave portal was shattered. Large pieces of rock were flung outward as the monstrous scorpion burst through. It brandished its giant pincers and let out a bone-chilling roar unlike anything Pyrrha would have expected from a scorpion.

Finally able to see the grimm in its entirety, Pyrrha could only think of how unprepared she was for this. She had only ever fought people before, and even then only in an arena surrounded by thousands of screaming spectators. Now she was faced with a giant scorpion grimm in the middle of a forest. Plus, after all the time they had wasted in the cave, there was likely to be no one else in the forest to come to their aid.

Jaune was still dangling from its stinger, frantically calling for help. Free of the confinements of the cave, Pyrrha could finally try and figure out a way to get both of them out of their predicament alive.

"Help! Pyrrha!" The grimm forcefully swung its tail back and forth, but Jaune, realizing that he was actually safer clinging to the tail than letting go, managed to hold on. "Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It's not!"

Pyrrha's eyes darted back and forth, looking for any weakness she could exploit. But she only knew how to fight humanoid opponents, she knew nothing about grimm. For all she knew the scorpion was invulnerable to anything she could throw at it.

"Pyrrha! Do something!"

She tightened her grip on her spear and began to search its body for a weak spot, but being ignorant about grimm created the downside of not knowing what was armor and what was soft flesh. The only thing that looked like a weak spot was the glowing stinger, but that could've been it's strongest point for all she knew.

"Jaune!" She didn't know what to do here, but at least she could reassure her teammate. "Whatever you do, don't let—" the grimm whipped its tail to from side to side, and after just a few seconds Jaune was thrown off into the distance, "go…"

Pyrrha looked on in dismay as Jaune disappeared into the forest. As long as he didn't break his neck on landing, he should be safe for the time being now that he was far from the giant grimm.

The snapping of massive pincers brought her attention back to her opponent. The scorpion towered over her, the bulbous stinger alone was the size of a person, and the pincers were even bigger. It bared its mandibles in a vicious hiss.

Swallowing the lump forming in her throat with wide fearful eyes, she finally understood why everyone was so afraid of the creatures of grimm.

Pyrrha took a moment to consider her options and ran for her life.

* * *

Blake is still staring at something above them and at the growing dot in the sky, but Yang is focused on the forest where she had herd the shriek.

"Blake, did you hear that?" Yang asked, but when she didn't get a response she turned to her partner with a pleading look. She wanted to help whoever it was who screamed, but she wasn't going to rush ahead and leave Blake to fend for herself. "What should we do?"

Blake didn't get a chance to answer as the next second a scream of "heads uuuuuuuup!" was heard, and when Yang looked up to see what Blake was so focused on she gasped as she saw her baby sister Ruby falling from the sky.

* * *

"Look" Raven said, gripping Vergil's shoulder with his left hand and pointing at the side of the cliff with his right. "Yeah I see, someone carved some stairs into the cliff!"

He frowned and turned to the older boy "do you think it was the professors?"

Raven hummed in thought, curling the fingers of his right hand to his chin in a thinking pose. The temple ruins, these stairs, those cave paintings they passed by...

"No they look too old, like they were here for hundreds of years. I think there was a town down here once."

"Really? Then what happened to... oh." Vergil started to ask before realizing what had likely happened, and his voice left him as they stood in a depressed silence.

"Well come on" Raven said, walking toward the base of the stairs, "no point dwelling on that which cannot be changed. We have an initiation to finish."

"Uh sure" Vergil said, his usual energy gone from his voice.

* * *

Author's Notes

Sorry about the wait.

Okay, so I have officially made the first changes to the story outside of team RAVN. Jaune knows what aura is. This is because it makes more sense for him to know what it is than for him not to. Aura is public knowledge in Remnant, not something that is secret among hunters, otherwise none of the initiates would know what it was and would need to have it unlocked by a teacher.

Also, Glynda's comment in canon about doubting Ren and Nora's ability to work together was royally stupid. Doesn't she have the prospective students histories on file? She would've known that those two have been together (but not together-together) for all of their lives. Having Glynda comment instead on their mental states would make more sense since she is a molder of young minds and would thus be concerned about them going for so long without proper supervision.

No, I didn't make Pyrrha into a wimp. Pyrrha is a tournament fighter, her fighting style is geared toward fighting human (or faunus) opponents, and her semblance is useless against grimm who don't use metal weapons or armor. Semblances form early on, and are given form based on what you need at the time. Ren needed to hide from the grimm invading his village, Yang (presumably) needed to be stronger for her sister, and Ruby (presumably) needed to be faster to get away from the grimm. In that fashion Pyrrha must have needed to win more fights in the arena, probably so she could support a financially struggling family. As a tournament fighter, she would have never have seen a grimm before and only went to Beacon on a whim or because she reasoned that she could put her strength to greater use.

Having never seen a grimm before and being suddenly faced with a giant scorpion grim she was understandably frightened. She was used to fighting opponents that she could understand and had the same weak points she herself had, but a giant scorpion was a complete unknown. She didn't know where the gaps in its armor were and as such she ran away rather than fight something she was not sure she could win against.

In case you were wondering, the first team to arrive was Agni and Nefartem, then Raven and Vergil. RWBY and JNPR were dead last. So no big temple fight for the early birds, that was only there in canon to remind the audience that it was an action show. Didn't have much purpose otherwise, except to show that the teams were capable of working together, even though it was stupid that Ruby just said 'cover me' instead of telling Weiss the plan, and even stupider that Weiss just guessed what the plan was by watching the back of a girl who she had spent an entire two days arguing with.

Ruby was never that great of a leader, taking every chance she got to run on ahead and fight the enemy herself instead of as a team. Even later on in team JNRR (come at me RNJR fans) Jaune was the one coming up with all the strategies and generally playing the traditional leadership role. Keeping the team optimistic and high spirited.

That is all.


	9. Players and Pieces

"We made it back!" Vergil yelled as he and Raven arrived back to the school. The boy stopped abruptly in front of the door and turned back to his partner, who was walking forward at a more leisurely pace. _  
_

"Are you ready?" Raven asked, looking down at the wolf faunus. But the question was not directed at the boy, not truly. Raven had lived a life of isolation and silence ever since...

"Huh?" Vergil asked, his ears perking up in confusion and his tail wagging merrily.

His tail coiled about his legs under his coat and he gripped his right elbow with his left hand and squeezed.

This was it.

He had passed the initiation and was on his way to being assigned a team. But was he truly ready to become a huntsman? Huntsman were colloquially known throughout the world as heroes, and he didn't think he would ever be ready for a title like that.

He was a mercenary, he had been a freelance soldier, he had been an assassin and he had been a thief. He had been assigned tasks from wiping out hordes of grimm to hunting down dangerous fugitives and either killing them or capturing them alive.

Sad to say that the former was the case far more often than the latter.

He had assassinated key figures in both the White Fang and in human society, and he had stolen things ranging from valuable artifacts to important information.

The worst part of all of that was that he could not say, with any degree of honesty, that he did not leave any collateral damage in his wake.

Could he truly go anywhere where his past would not come back to haunt him or those around him?

But his father had asked him to come here. He wanted a better life for his son than the life of a mercenary.

Then for his father Raven would step through that door, ready or not.

Vergil, far more perceptive than he appeared, grabbed his hand and squeezed reassuringly.

"Let's go" the boy said quietly.

"Yes, let's" Raven nodded, pushing the door open.

* * *

Weiss was miserable.

For the second time in a single day, her every sense was assaulted by merciless winds rushing past her. As someone born and raised in Atlas' northern climate, she should have been able to handle the cold, but there was a difference between a cold winter's day out in a nice warm coat and being stuck in a raging storm in a short skirt and a light summer jacket.

She was freezing, plain and simple. Her fingers were going numb, her nose and ears felt like they were going to fall off any second, and she could barely see anything but a blurry haze through teary eyes. Weiss was clinging on for dear life. Being miserable was an understatement, but it wasn't the worst part of her situation. No, by far the worst part was that she had no idea how she could have let things get out of hand to this extent.

That was not entirely true, either. She knew exactly how she had gotten herself into this mess. Ruby's constant complaining had gotten to her, and in a moment of weakness, she had relinquished control over where they were headed.

What was that girl thinking anyways? Of course, Weiss had been lost. She had been brought up to become CEO of a massive, international company, not a girl scout. Ruby was supposed to try to find her way, fail just as miserably, and finally stop complaining.

Instead, her adamant refusal to admit that she was lost and heading in the wrong direction had led them into this insanity!

Weiss had barely handed over the lead when the little girl disappeared in a shower of rose petals. She had just zipped away, leaving Weiss behind for a couple of minutes with no clue as to where she had gone or when she would be back. Leave it to her hyperactive brat of a partner to be blessed with one of the most annoying semblances she could imagine.

Eventually, she had reappeared in another shower of rose petals. Instead of giving Weiss the satisfaction of being able to gloat, she had grabbed her arm and dragged her along at an inhuman speed. Any form of protest had proven futile.

Things had just gotten worse and worse from there.

The sudden change in pace had brought on a slight bout of motion sickness, though that was nothing compared to the sense of dread that had been evoked by what Weiss had found at their destination. Perched high upon a massive tree sat a black bird. It looked almost like a raven, were it not for the bone mask, the glowing red eyes, and its absolutely colossal size!

Being, as she was quickly coming to realize, the only sane person at Beacon, Weiss had inquired about their situation. The only answer forthcoming had turned out to be a smug smile. Another burst of speed later, she had found herself buried face first in between the monster's tail feathers.

The giant nevermore - as the species was called in her textbooks - had taken offense to the intruders and left its perch. Moments later, they had been soaring high up in the sky, devoid of escape routes, and very miserable.

"Ruby!"Weiss screamed at her partner, in anger and fear and to be heard over the rushing wind, "I told you this was a terrible idea!

**"** We're fine!" Ruby yelled back, gripping the black feathers underneath her tightly. "Stop worrying!"

**"** I am **so** far beyond worrying!" The Schnee snapped at the younger girl angrily.

**"** In a good way?" Ruby asked with a hopeful grimace.

**"** In a bad way!" she shouted in response, "in a very bad way!"

The idea was outright ludicrous. Sure, they were moving fast. Very fast. They were covering a lot more ground than they could have on foot, but they were high up in the sky, clinging to the back of a giant, winged grimm. A giant, winged grimm that they had absolutely no way of steering or landing.

"Well, why don't we just jump?"

"What? Are you insane?" Weiss asked.

She was in no need for a response from her partner to answer the question herself, but she had expected one. Ruby seemed to have an opinion on everything, and she had shown little hesitation in expressing it no matter how stupid or ridiculous it had turned out to be.

Weiss waited for a couple of seconds, hoping to avoid having to look directly into the wind.

"Ruby?"

She braced herself as well as she could and searched for her partner on the nevermore's back.

The trademark red cape was nowhere to be seen.

Weiss's grip tightened in anger. "Oh, you insufferable little red-!"

* * *

Agni and his partner Nefartem had been the first to arrive back to the school. Agni was bored and tired, using his semblance so liberally as he had took a huge chunk out of his stamina, and to make matters worse, his 'fashion' obsessed teammate was chatting his ear off. Honestly, it was getting hard to keep track of exactly what the lion faunus was saying as his words were blurring together at this point.

He took out his book to try to show him that he wasn't interested in talking, and while that did the trick of shutting the other teen up, it took him about ten minutes to do so. He would have sighed in relief, if the next pair of students had not chosen that exact moment to enter the entrance hall/waiting area.

The double doors opened and in ran a young wolf faunus in silver and grey clothes, with grey hair, canine ears and a tail, and a silver greatsword on his back.

Ears and a tail? In his experience faunus only had one outward animal trait, not two. That one was worth looking into at some point.

Walking at a more leisurely pace behind the giggling boy was the young man who had been called out by Miss Goodwitch back at the cliff.

Agni set his book down and rose to greet the new arrivals, praying that they would be better company than his partner. Not that that lion faunus was bad company, he was just... kind of insane.

Not in a terribly bad way, but...

"Hello there" he said to the young wolf faunus, who stopped and looked up at the taller boy. "My name is Agni Vermillion, and this" he pointed to his side where his partner, who had quieted down for the first time since he had met him, stood with his hands on his hips, "is my partner Nefartem Gild."

The boy looked back and forth between them for a moment before his face split into a blinding smile "hi! I'm Virgil Argento, nice to meet you" he replied enthusiastically, bending forward at the waist in a polite bow.

"Raven Lenoreah" the other teen said in a surprisingly deep voice considering his feminine looking face, resting a metal hand on Vergil's shoulder. Agni looked at the aforementioned hand with an appraising eye, before raising his gaze up to take in the rest of the arm and shoulder before meeting Raven's eyes. Raven's eyes were narrowed at him, having noticed his glance at his arm.

Agni was perceptive enough to know when something was off, but so was Raven who took notice when the other teen's gaze lingered a bit too long.

Agni closed his eyes and smiled at Raven, silently signalling that he did not intend to cause a ruckus over such a small issue. Raven, having received the silent message as intended, closed his eyes and sighed in in resignation and relief.

"Hey," said an impatient Nefartem, "care to tell me what that was about?" The lion faunus had noticed the wordless discourse between his teammate and the reptile faunus, but didn't have a clue as to what it was about.

But if the boy in red noticed if something was off about the other faunus, then he sure as hell wanted to be clued in.

"Oh nothing much" Agni said to his partner.

"I don't get it," Vergil said, having not noticed anything out of the ordinary until Nefartem had spoken up. "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you later Vergil" Raven said, turning away from Nefartem and Agni, "come on."

The wolf boy looked at the retreating faunus' back with a raised eyebrow for a moment before saying "'kay" and running after him.

Things had calmed down since then, and they had taken their seats at opposite ends of the gymnasium.

Agni picked up his book once more and continued to read while his partner tinkered with his weapon.

He would have been content to pass the time reading his... romance novel until this phase of the initiation was over and they were called for the next part, but the next pair of student hopefuls chose that moment to come into the gymnasium.

The next entered soon after that, and another pair came in just minutes after them.

There were a few hundred applicants, but only thirty-two chess pieces, or relics. So out of hundreds of student hopefuls, only the first thirty-two pairs of two, or sixty-four students who arrived at the relics managed to pass the test.

Students would attend Beacon for six years, so that meant that there were six grade levels, each with sixty-two students if this process was repeated each year, with a similar entrance exam.

But then, why was Beacon an enormous castle if it only housed three hundred and eighty-four students and perhaps a dozen teachers and a couple dozen staff members? This place was equipped to handle thousands of occupants.

Perhaps there was, at one point, over a thousand students present. Perhaps the standards for who could enter needed to be narrowed at some point to reduce the death toll of hunters?

* * *

**"** Blake, did you hear that?" Yang said to the other girl, "what should we do?" she asked, but the other girl simply pointed up, her bow twitching.

**"** Heads up!" a panicking Ruby yelled as she fell towards the two. Yang's eyes widened, but before she could do anything to catch her, that blond boy from earlier came flying out of the treeline crashed into the girl, sending them both crashing into a tree on the far end of the clearing.

For a whole minute Ruby didn't say anything, simply lying on top of Jaune and making this dazed sound with her throat.

Yang's eye twitched as she glared at the boy laying under her sister. She knew that it wasn't his fault that they were in such a compromising position, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Her eyes turned red and she started to stomp toward them with a growl, but her partner grabbed her shoulder and held her back.

Ruby shook the last traces of her dizziness from her head and said "what was that?"

She heard someone clearing his throat under her, and she looked down to see Jaune looking up at her with a nonplussed look on his face "hey Ruby..."

**"** Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked in what sounded like forced incredulity.

Yang scratched the back of her head and shrugged. They had been launched off of a cliff just moments prior, so falling from the sky should be kind of par for the course in this kind of situation, shouldn't it?

"I-" Yang tried to respond, but before she could continue they head crashing noises coming from the treeline on the opposite end of the clearing as just seconds later an Ursa rushed out, claws swiping back and forth wildly, but before any of them could react a blast of pink energy exploded just behind the grimm before it fell down to the ground, an orange haired girl rolling off of its back, yelling enthusiastically.

**"** Aww..." she said, looking down at the ursa, "it's broken."

An exhausted looking boy in green came up behind her and fell forwards with his hands on his knees and said through his panting "Nora! Please, don't ever do that again." He looked up only to find her gone, and he looked around frantically for his friend only to see her in the stone rotunda.

**"** Oooohh..." Nora gazed at a gold rook piece before she suddenly grabbed it and balancing it on top of her head and started dancing while saying in a sing-song tone "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

"Nora!" Her friend called in an exasperated and exhausted voice.

Nora stopped dancing and straightened up, the rook piece fell from her head and she caught it absentmindedly, showing the onlookers that she was more coordinated than she let on. She saluted and called back to her friend "coming, Ren!" and skipped toward him giggling.

"Did that girl just... ride in on an Ursa?" Blake questioned again, but this time her incredulity sounded in no way forced. A sentiment Yang could very much agree to upon seeing the utter spaz known to the world as Nora.

**"** I..." she was interrupted once more by a deafening screech from the treeline. _'Oh come on, again?'_

The shrill roar that had echoed through the forest was different from the snarling growls of a beowolf, the full-bodied roars of an ursa, or the shriek of the nevermore. It was something none of those present in the clearing had ever heard before.

The sound of falling trees and rustling leaves was interspersed with hissing and clacking noises. Whatever was causing so much ruckus had to be big.

A red-and-bronze colored figure burst out of the underbrush in a dead run.

That was... Pyrrha, right? Any hope of finding the time to have a quick bout with the famous champion away from prying eyes and heavy-handed rulebooks was lost when the edge of the forest exploded outwards. In a single swipe, the two massive pincers sent trees, bushes, grass and mounds of dirt flying from the forest floor before eight armored legs trampled the remaining greenery into splinters.

Yang's eyes widened, it was a giant deathstalker! Yang had heard about those, but never gotten anywhere near one in the flesh. Those things were extremely powerful, enough even to challenge a seasoned huntsman in combat. A grin spread of the blonde's face as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up in excitement.

Pyrrha on the other hand seemed less happy about her discovery. The deathstalker was hot on her heels, swiping pincers left and right in hopes of catching her.

Yang watched with interest. Someone with Pyrrha's reputation shouldn't be in too much of a danger despite the size of the scorpion, and the situation provided her with an interesting glimpse into the champion's abilities, which would become relevant soon enough if Yang got her way.

Pyrrha was good. Nimble, fast, and... terrified?

She was running away from the deathstalker with a panicked look on her face, her chest heaving with fast, heavy breaths. She leapt forward with a gasp as a pincer the size of a small car swiped at her, and dived out of the way again when the follow-up blow graced her hair as she rolled under it.

The girl might more than deserve her reputation judging by how fast she was moving, but if the look on her face was any indication then she really needed some help, and soon!

"Did that girl just run all the way here with a deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked, not seeing the panicked look on the champion's face and, going off reputation alone, assumed that the girl was more than a match for the beast and was thus in no danger.

Yang tore herself away from the spectacle in the clearing and looked at Blake from the corner of her eyes. Perfectly straight face, not a hint of emotion betrayed by her voice. Spoken, not like someone who might be next on the menu, but like a distant onlooker in perfect safety.

"Jaune!"Pyrrha yelled in relief. She had feared the worst when the deathstalker flung him through the forest.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune yelled after his partner upon seeing her, dropping down from the tree branch and trying to make his way toward her.

_So Pyrrha got paired up with Jaune, huh? Well at least he seems like a decent enough sort,_ Yang thought to herself. After speaking to her, the champion seemed somewhat naive and a little... straight laced. She would hate for her to end up with some pervy dude-bro who would try to peep on her every chance he got.

"Ruby!" Jaune groaned as the aforementioned girl dropped down from the tree branch and landed on his back, causing the poor boy to fall crashing to the ground.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled in happiness at seeing her sister again, she started to run toward the girl so she could embrace her.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled, equally happy to see her sister, she threw her arms out to the side to accept the hug.

"Nora!" Yelled the pink-haired girl as she jumped in between the sisters causing them to stumble. She had recognized the bit from her favorite comedy movies that was playing out, whether the 'actors' involved were aware of it or not, so she brought about the final part, where someone yelled out their own name to feel included.

* * *

"We need to get down there now Ozpin! Those kids are in way over their heads!" Glynda yelled at her employer, bending down to retrieve her crop from her boot and moving to stand on the nearest launch pad, preparing to launch herself into the forest with her scroll.

"Wait Glynda, let us wait and see what happens. We won't know what they are capable of if we involve ourselves now." Ozpin said, lazily sipping from his coffee and gazing at his scroll.

"But sir," Glynda argued "those kids are not ready to face a deathstalker or a nevermore. Let alone both at the same time!"

Smaller and more common species of grimm such as beowolves, ursai and boarbatusks were only moderately difficult for junior hunters fresh out of combat school to kill. Because of this, many young huntsman and huntresses-to-be underestimated the threat that Grimm presented.

There was a very good reason that people normally flocked to the walls of the kingdoms for protection. The creatures of grimm were far more dangerous than most people realized.

Deathstalkers and nevermores were two species of grimm that grew larger and stronger than the more common species and subspecies, but were by no means the strongest ones out there. That did not mean to say that they were weak, as indeed they were strong enough to give trained huntsman a challenge in combat.

Ozpin knew it even better than she did, surely he could understand her need for caution. These were children! Not soldiers signing on to the job even knowing that they might not come home.

Ozpin spoke up before she could open her mouth. "Do not worry Glynda, they may be children, but they are all trained in combat. I'm sure that between the eight of them, they can equal two trained huntsman." He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder "don't you think?"

Glynda closed her eyes and sighed in frustration. She couldn't argue against him when he got like this.

Out of the eight kids down in that forest , only five of them had actually graduated from combat school.

Mister Arc had been tutored by his family, allegedly, though from what she had seen from him so far, she wasn't sure she believed that.

Miss Rose had been invited to Beacon two years too early in a decision that even she didn't entirely understand. In the past similarly gifted fighters had to wait until they graduated from their primary schooling before being invited to Beacon, and while she did have an idea why the exception had been made for her, she by no means liked it.

Lastly, miss Nikos had never seen a day of formal education at a combat school in her life, rather she had earned a scholarship through her fantastic record as a tournament fighter. While that may have seemed impressive to anyone, for a teacher like her, it was evident that the girl was in no way prepared to face the creatures of grimm.

"Umm, excuse me." She almost jumped when she heard a voice behind her. She and Ozpin turned to see mister Lenoreah standing a fair distance from the launch pads.

She noted that mister Argento was not at his side. From what she had seen the boy seemed to have latched onto the older teen, so he must have talked him into staying behind while he came to talk to them for him to be here alone like this.

"Can we help you mister Lenoreah?" Raven looked down at his feet at her question, as if asking himself why he was even out here. "It's just... It's getting late, and we're wondering how much longer this test is going to go on for."

"There are still students in the forest," Glynda said, making sure to keep the worry out of her voice, "this test will end when they manage to get back to the cliff."

Raven's face adopted a worried expression as he tried to think of anyone he hadn't seen in the entrance hall. Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a pair of opera glasses and, unfolding them, looked through them out into the forest.

"There is no need to worry mister Lenoreah," Raven lowered his binoculars when Ozpin spoke, "everything is well in hand."

* * *

**_"_** Umm..." Ruby said impatiently, tugging at her sister's sleeve, "Yang?" The older girl looked down towards her and she pointed upwards.

Up above, Weiss was still clinging for dear life to a talon the size of her entire body.

**"** How could you leave me?!" They heard her yell, her voice muffled by the wind. Ruby cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted up at her partner "I said 'jump'!"

Blake looked at the hooded girl with a raised eyebrow.

"She's gonna fall" Blake commented in a deadpanned tone.

"She'll be fine" Ruby said, dismissing her comment with a wave of her hand.

"She's falling" the boy in green, Lie Ren, spoke in the same deadpanned tone as Blake, making Ruby slump her shoulders as her face fell.

* * *

"How could you leave me!"

Jaune perked up. It was faint, but he was sure that the voice belonged to his counterpart in the starring role. He peeked through the foliage and, much to his surprise, found his Snow Angel high up in the sky clinging to… something really big and decidedly grimm looking.

He was about to curse his luck when the monster passed by over the trees when he realized that Weiss had lost her grip and was coming down within his reach.

His moment of glory had finally arrived. Jaune was perched on his branch, ready to jump. The fall still scared him, but heroes had to take chances. And thanks to Pyrrha, he knew how to use his aura now, which should protect him.

He could see it already: Jaune Jr. and the little Snowflake sitting around a roaring fire in the Arc family castle, listening on the edge of their seats, to the story of how he rescued their mother from falling to her death by a heroic leap of faith.

It was now or never! Jaune dived off his branch and met his falling Snow Angel with his arms spread wide. Time seemed to slow down and, almost like a hint from the universe itself, she landed in his arms in a perfect bridal carry.

Weiss was stunned in confusion, but Jaune was not deterred. He put on his best charming (although he didn't know how to do 'charming' yet, so it just came off as smarmy) smile. "Just dropping in?

The moment was perfect. The hero had come to save the day and did so in a dashing way that would make every adventure story proud.

He kept his confident smile and was waiting for Weiss to show any reaction. She looked down. Jaune's eyes followed, and he realized what he had done. Time hadn't slowed down, and they were plunging fast towards the ground with no plan in mind to save the day.

"Oh god," he mumbled as his bridal carry broke up and they tumbled downwards, two distinctive entities once again.

Jaune belly-flopped into the grass with a loud thud. At least now he knew that aura did not stop one from feeling the pain of impacts. He was alive, but he was hurting all over. There might be some broken bones if he was unlucky. Bruises were a guarantee.

Still, being alive beat the alternative, or so he thought. A moment later, he wished he could take it back. Something heavy plunged right into the small of his back with unbelievable force. A pained yelp escaped him and, had it been for his aura preventing him from being injured by the impact, he might have sworn that his spine had been snapped in half.

It would be just his luck, after all, to get paralyzed out in a monster-infested wilderness devoid of modern medicine.

"My hero," the heavy object he could now identify as Weiss said in a heartbreakingly sarcastic tone.

"My back," Jaune groaned.

The tale of their adventures would need a lot of embellishing before it was ready for the little ones…

* * *

Pyrrha finally managed to put some distance between herself and the deathstalker, but in her haste she forgot to watch where she was going and ended up tripping on a rock.

She made a pained noise when she hit the ground. Her aura protected her from getting injured by the impact of the fall and skid, but falling on the hard ground after building up so much speed really hurt.

"Great, the gang's all here" the blonde girl, Yang, said with a wide smile on her face. "Now we can die together!"

Unfortunately Ruby wasn't in the right mood to get the joke.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby shouted, cocking her weapon and rushing toward the deathstalker, Yang tried to grab on to her, but all she got was a hand full of dissolving rose petals left in Ruby's wake.

"Ruby, wait!"

Ruby ran at the giant scorpion, bellowing her war cry (which, in the eyes of her comrades was more cute than scary because of her high pitched voice) and charged at the gimm while firing dust-filled slugs from Crescent Rose at the oncoming deathstalker, unfortunately to little-to-no effect.

Ruby's 'war cry' (affectionately known as her 'little roar') died down in her throat when she entered the grimm's range. Here eyes widened when she saw a giant claw swinging at her and brought up Crescent Rose to try to block it, but failed to get it up in time and was knocked back.

Ruby managed to get up, but slower than normal because of the pain she was in. "Do-" she tried to speak through her stutter, "don't worry! Totally fine!"

Yang's world narrowed as she saw her baby sister in danger. "Ruby!" she yelled in worry and ran toward her sister who was fleeing from the deathstalker as she realized she was biting off more than she could chew.

Ruby ran towards Yang, but the almost forgotten nevermore cried out high above them, firing man-sized sharpened feathers with a flap of its wings, the points catching Ruby's cape, choking the girl as she fell back to the ground and preventing Yang from reaching her.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted in a panic as sh tried to get to her sister through the barricade of hard-as-steel giant feathers. "Get out of there!"

"I'm trying!" she shouted back while trying to pull her cape free, but then she heard a hiss coming up behind her, causing her heart to skip a beat.

The death stalker approached the girl, raising its golden stinger above a scared Ruby as it prepared to end the helpless girl as it had ended so many other wannabe hunters.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled with wet eyes, doubling her efforts at trying to get through the barricade as her heart thudded in her ears.

Ruby closed her eyes in fear as the giant golden stinger bore down on her, entire life flashing before her eyes.

_'Daddy!'_

She heard a crunching noise that she thought for a second was the stinger entering her body, but then... why wasn't she feeling any pain?

"You are so childish!" She heard the muffled yell of her partner through her hands covering her ears.

Ruby, half convinced that she was dead, opened her eyes slowly to the sight of the stinger encased in ice. Tears began to pour freely from her eyes as she lowered her arms from their futile position over her head as she stared at her savior.

"Weiss...?" she asked, almost not believing it. They had spent the entire time they knew each other arguing like cats and dogs, and now the white clad girl risks her own life to save her from certain doom?

Weiss removed Myrtenaster from where it was stabbed into the ice she had erected to imprison the creature's stinger as she continued to berate her partner, "and dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style."

Ruby looked to the side and pouted, well there went wanting to give Weiss a hug for saving her.

"And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult..." Ruby squeaked in surprise at the admission from the older girl, "but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off," Ruby said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I just want you to know I can do this."

Weiss sighed, saying "you're fine."

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, closing her eyes as Weiss stood up and walked back to the others. She clasped her hands as she gratefully whispered "Normal knees..."

She got up and stared at the deatstalker as it struggles to escape with its tail trapped in the ice. "Whoa!" she stared in wonder.

Ruby yelped as Yang suddenly ran up to her and yanked her into a bone-crushing hug.

Ruby grunted in slight pain at her sister's too tight embrace, but then she registered Yang's trembling body.

Yang was crying and trembling, she must have been really worried about her. Ruby bit her lip, suddenly feeling very guilty that she rushed ahead like that and made her sister worry.

"I'm so happy you're okay!" Yang said, simply staring at her with happy, tearful eyes. The two stared at each other in happiness for a moment, but then look up look up when they remembered that the nevermore was still flying overhead and cawing.

"Guys?" Ruby jumped, she had almost forgotten that anyone else was here. "That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?" Jaune asked fearfully, and where before she might have judged him for being scared of grimm, having witnessed her own inadequacy at these large and powerful grimm species in a none too graceful fashion, she now was empathizing with him completely.

Even her usual murder boner for the creatures of grimm was gone.

For now. She would need to slaughter some beowolves or something later as catha... cathar... cathasi... to make herself feel better.

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying about here," Weiss was the first to respond, her legs held straight and close together with her hand high on her hip, her sword held parallel to her right leg, "our objective is right in front of us." With that, she swept her left leg out slightly so that her legs were forming a right angle triangle with the ground, and she rose her sword arm in front of her with the tip pointed toward the ground, before she pointed it toward the relics with an audible swish.

Those gathered, aside from Nora who was grinning madly, stared oddly at her dramatic posing posing before following after the tip of her sword toward the relics.

Ruby nodded and chirped "She's right, our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs." She smiled and nodded to the white haired girl, "there's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live" Jaune for one agreed. While he didn't have that much faith in himself, he knew even hunters in training could mow down the weaker grimm variants like grass, so he came to Beacon safe in the knowledge that he'd be safe so long as he was in a team, and then he could steadily close the gap in skill by simply training among them.

But then these two more powerful species came along, just two of them, and had them entirely outgunned. "That's an idea I can get behind!"

Those gathered that hadn't already grabbed pieces of their own walked as one toward the crumbling temple. Ruby grabbed a gold knight piece, looking it over for anything out of the ordinary. Standing a little to her left, Jaune took hold of a gold rook, and noticing each other's glances, the two smiled at each other.

A smile scrutinized by the judgmental narrowed eyes of an overly protective Yang.

Everyone jumped a little when they heard a crack shoot through the temporary sense of calm that had settled over them, and as they looked at the source they looked in trepidation as the death stalker continued to fight its bonds, cracking the ice imprisoning it.

"Time we left!" Ren, echoing their thoughts, shouted.

"Right, let's go!" Ruby spoke, slightly depressed that she was actually running away from a grimm. The girl ran toward the general direction of the cliff with a wave to everyone.

Yang stood in place, a smile on her face as she watched her sister with pride. She was actively talking with people and even participating in a group environment like this. Just this morning the girl was talking about not socializing with anyone, as she said she wanted to become a huntress all on her own.

She really was growing up. _'I want to cry!'_

"What is it?" Blake asked, sidling up to her grinning partner.

"Nothing..." She shook her head dismissively as she started to run back to the group. Blake, once more by herself, smiled to herself in realization before following the group as well.

* * *

It dawned upon the group to late that they did not know the forest well enough to realize that they were going the wrong way, allowing their pursuers to catch up with them.

The group left the forest behind, heading into a larger set of multi-tiered bridges and columns built into an even larger cliff that gave the afraid of heights Jaune the willies. A loud screech rending the air reminded them that the giant nevermore was still following them from the air. The group spread out when it passed above, hiding themselves behind some of the stone blocks with their allies as it perches on a high column and screeched again.

"Well, that's just perfect!" Yang spat with gritted teeth.

Jaune yelped and looked behind them at the death stalker as it burst through the treeline.

"Ah man," he said, wanting to cry at their misfortune, "run!" The group emerges from their hiding spots at his command, and at witnessing its quarry, the nevermore took to the air once again.

The group of eight looked back and fourth between the two grim, realization hitting them that they had gone the wrong way and were now trapped, with no way out except to fight and hope that their numbers gave them the advantage.

"Nora, distract it!" Lie Ren commanded his friend, and Nora obliged with a smile and a nod, removing her grenade launcher from her back and running toward the flying grimm, jumping and dodging her way through the feather projectiles it launched at her before launching several heart-tipped shells from her grenade launcher, the dust grenades burst into pink electricity when they hit the nevermore, disrupting its flight as the lightning sent its body into spasms, causing it to retreat.

So focused on the nevermore was she, that she was entirely unaware of the death stalker rushing up behind her until Blake and Ren rushed it, alerting Nora to its presence with their shouts of exertion, performing a cross-slash with their Gambol Shroud and Storm Flower against its hard shell, the impact of the combined attack forcing it back slightly, but was otherwise unable to leave so much as a scratch on its armor. Weiss landed next to Nora after climbing a column so she could create a propulsion glyph beneath them and leap to safety, leaving Blake and Ren to be chased.

"Go!" Pyrhha shouted at Jaune, urging him to get behind her as she drew Miló and switched it to its rifle configuration, firing red dust bullets alongside Ren's green ones ineffectually for all of a second until it reached them and swiped its claw at them, sending the group running away once again.

The eight would be students raced over the ancient stone bridge, not noticing the nevermore closing in on them until it shattered the path with its wings, forcing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune closer to the central collection of columns and Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other side with the death stalker.

Ruby fired at the retreating nevermore while Blake was beaten back by the scorpion.

Jaune ran up to to the edge of the break in the bridge and clenched his fists in frustration. How did pro hunters survive if two moderately powerful grimm sent them all to scrambling like this. "We have to get over there, they need help!"

Nora ran to his side and said confidently with a nod of agreement, "let's do this!

Jaune looked down into the misty abyss beneath them in wariness before saying with a scared stutter "but, uh... I can't make that jump."

Nora smiles diabolically at him, laughing as she knocks him back with her grenade launcher, switching its configuration into a war hammer and jumped to the edge of the bridge.

Jaune figured out what she was planning by reading her posture and shouted with widened panicked eyes "no, wait!" But it was to late, as she slamed the hammer into the bridge, turning it into a lever and throwing Jaune to the other side, screaming in fright the whole way as nothing but his own momentum prevented him from falling to his death.

Back in the rubble of the broken bridge, Nora placed one foot on her hammer and squeezed the trigger, propelling her off the collapsing section of bridge, and when she saw the death stalker just ahead, she grinned madly and brought her hammer behind her, using her momentum to slam its face right in the center of the death stalker's skull mask.

The scorpion grimm was staggered by the impact and brought its tail forward to attack the annoying girl. Nora glanced up and saw the gold stinger rushing at her, so she fired her weapon again just as the stinger came within range, blasting herself back again and staggering the grimm further, accidentally knocking into Blake and making her fall from the edge. "Whoops!"

Blake gritted her teeth in annoyance at having her attack interrupted by Nora, and looking for something to grab with her weapon and saw the nevermore above her. Getting an idea, switched her sword into pistol configuration and fired it, launching it up toward the bridge, she grabbed the whip as her weapon sank blade first into the masonry.

The whip went taut and for a moment she was afraid the ancient bridge wouldn't hold her weight, but these fears were put to bed as her impromptu grappling hook swung her around, and as she reached the top of the arc, she yanked on the whip, pulling it from the stone and circling around and leaping onto the aerial Grimm's back.

She switched her pistol back into sword configuration and dashed all over its body, slashing at its vital points but was unable to cut its tough skin, before jumping off and landing on the ruined platform at the top of the columns next to Ruby, then moving to stand with Yang and Weiss.

"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake admitted, gritting her teeth. Her ex-boyfriend always made this look so easy.

In response Yang unfolded her gauntlets, the force of it sending a shock through her body and making her boobs jiggle, making Blake want to hit her for purposefully designing her weapons to do that every time they were deployed. "Then let's hit it with everything we got!"

The nevermore flew toward the girls with an aggressive screech as Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Yang set their weapons to fire a barrage of blasts at the bird, which it either dodged or tanked until it crashed through the columns and platform, further destroying the ancient structure that had until now withstood the test of time remarkably well.

The girls leapt from one section of falling masonry to the next until they reach the higher bridge on top, just below the cliffs.

Weiss stomped in frustration, "none of this is working!"

Ruby watched Blake whip over to another section of the area and Yang firing round after flaming round at the Grimm before she came up with an idea. "I have a plan, Cover me!" She twirled her scythe so that the bladed end was facing toward the ground, before she squeezed the trigger and blasted herself away.

Weiss couldn't believe that girl! "What plan? I don't know what you want me to do!"

Ruby apparently didn't hear her over the rush of the wind in her ears, so the white haired girl just growled and rushed into the fray. If that stupid girl wouldn't tell her what the plan was, the she would just improvise.

Down below, back on more stable ground, the death stalker was still battling Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha.

Or rather, it was swatting them away as they tried to use their numbers to overwhelm it.

"We gotta move!" Jaune ordered, knowing that they couldn't get close enough to attack, but couldn't stay still for too long or the surprisingly agile grimm would attack them. Following his order, they circled it, figuring out for themselves the same thing.

The death stalker swiped a claw at claw at Pyrrha, but she deflected it with Akouo and slashed it with Milo, knocking the claw away but not doing any damage otherwise. The scorpion recovered and swiped at her with its other claw, but Jaune came in beside her and deflected it with his shield, knocking it back so Pyrrha could leap over and attack its face. Ren rushed towards it, firing Storm Flower to distract it and jumped up on its back when it tried to hit him.

"Ren! What are you-" Jaune asked in shock when the black haired boy dropped his weapons and reared back his left arm before bringing it forward and firing a blast of pink light from his open palm, the powerful aura attack hitting the joint between tail and stinger, for the first time actually hurting it, while Nora fires more grenades at the attacking claws, not hurting them but keeping them away from her and her new friends with the force of the explosions.

Pyrrha saw that the grimm was reeling back, and her fear of it became much less than what it was before, and with a deep breath she reeled her arm back and hurled her javelin straight into one of the monster's ten eyes, the pain making it spasm and throw Ren to the side.

"Ren!" Nora yelled in worry as her friend's back hit a column, before he slid off and fell on his face, not getting back up. Jaune, having been knocked back when the others weren't paying attention, managed to stand and notice the stinger was hanging limply.

"Pyrrha!" The girls followed his gaze, and with a nod of affirmation, she raised her shield and hurled it like a discus, the thin, blunt edge of the shield was enough to slice the stinger off with the force of Pyrrha's throw, causing it to fall into the death stalker's head as Pyrrha retrieved her rebounding shield.

"Nora, nail it!" Jaune ordered, and Nora giggled at his joke, not that he intended it as a joke. Though he would laugh at it later when he looked back on this.

"Heads up!" Nora yelled and jumped on Akouo, Pyrrha jumped up just as Nora blasted down to give herself maximum lift, and she smiled and laughed the entire way up before twirling down until her hammer slammed its head into the stinger, driving the point through the death stalker's head and crushing the bridge beneath it.

Jaune and Pyrrha bound over the monster to the safe non-crumbling land behind it, and Nora fired up and away behind them as the monster fell to its doom at the cliff bottom. Jaune, exhausted, hit the ground on his back, Nora landed on her bottom, Pyrrha fell but managed to maintain a crouched pose, and Ren simply walked over to them, panting and groaning until he just collapsed face first on the ground. The four of them, minus the now asleep Ren, chuckled while thinking how lucky they were that the fight ended when it did.

All of their aura's had been whittled down to next to nothing, and if the fight had gone on longer, their aura's would have ran out, and with it their aura enhanced strength and defense would have dissapeared, and if that happened the death stalker would have been able to kill them all in a single hit of its claws or tail.

The three still awake stood up and watched as the nevermore was peppered with firepower by the girls.

Yang was burning through her ammo on the beast, managing to keep herself airborne by firing at the bird and by firing wildly into the empty air, doing her best to keep her downward momentum to a minimum, landing a blow at its face and causing it to head right towards her. When it was close enough she grabbed at its beak and leapt into the beasts open maw, using one arm and her legs to keep its jaws open.

Yang fired bursts of fiery energy from her free gauntlet into its unprotected throat as she yelled "I-" bang "-hope-" bang "-you're-" bang "-hung-" bang "-gry!" Her gauntlet clicked empty, and she looked behind her and jumped back from its mouth onto a ruin, causing the creature to crash into the cliffs, staggered by the burning pain in its neck.

Despite Yang's attempts however, the nevermore recovered quickly, and Yang smiled as she spotted Ruby and Blake on the broken columns with Weiss rushing to the battle. Yang passed her while the nevermore started to fly back up, but Weiss hopped over to the ruin it was lifting off of and froze the tip of its feathery tail to the ground, leaving it stuck to the ground as it wildly flapped its wings to get away. Weiss back-flipped onto a snowflake-shaped glyph and jumped off of it and landed at the other side, running to the group.

Blake fired her Gambol Shroud pistol over to Yang while holding the end of the attached whip, and the two tightened it between the columns so Ruby could jump on the center with Crescent Rose and bent it back into Weiss' black sigil, right next to the caster.

"Of course you would come up with this idea" the white haired girl said sardonically.

"I didn't!"

"Well you didn't tell any of us your plan, so we were forced to improvise!"

Ruby puffed out her cheeks indignantly, but relented with a puff of air from her lips.

"Think you can make the shot?"

Weiss harrumphed confidently, "can I!"

A second passed in silence before Ruby asked "can you?"

"Of course I can!" Weiss yelled indignantly, turning the glyph from black to red and propelling Ruby forward.

Ruby looks forward and pumps Crescent Rose as Weiss turned the circle from black to red and released Ruby at such a speed that the ground behind her launch cracked, her semblance sending rose petals flying from her ascent. With each new shot, she got closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe caught the nevermore's neck in its blade and caused them both to fall to the cliff wall from her momentum. Weiss raised her sword and created a series of white attraction glyphs up the cliff, which Ruby used in conjunction with her own semblance to dash upward, firing her sniper scythe rapidly to add to her upward momentum.

Exhausted, Weiss fell to her knees as the three watched her climb up the cliff with the bird in her grasp until, both warrior and monster crying out, Ruby reached the top of the cliff, circled up, fired one last shot and rent the nevermore's head from its shoulders in a shower of petals and blood.

Normally, the bird grimm's skin was too tough for any blade to cut through, but combined with the massive momentum of Ruby's semblance, the powerful gunshots of her sniper rifle and the twin razor sharp blades of her scythe, the grimm's tough skin soft muscles gave way. The nevermore's spine, even tougher than its skin, might have stopped the blade and possibly might have shattered it, but by simple matter of luck, her scythe blade slid neatly between the spinal links.

She landed beside the severed head as the body of the giant nevermore fell lifelessly to the crevice below while the girls and, farther away, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and the still sleeping Ren watch in amazement.

"Wow..." Jaune uttered, captivated by the red hooded girl. Though nothing would come of that for years to come.

Ruby, her cape and petals flowing with the wind, looks down to her friends as they peer up at her.

"Well... That was a pretty grimm situation!"

Weiss and Blake, weakened by the fight, fell face first to the ground at Yang's bad pun while Ruby, not having herd her, kept smiling on her perch.

* * *

Muffled laughing was heard as Raven heard Yang's pun through Glynda's scroll, and was laughing into his hand.

"You see," Ozpin said, "everything is well in hand."

"Ozpin" Glynda spoke up, her voice and eyes serious while her hand was clenched around her riding crop at her side. "I am not going to go easy on them. Those kids have no idea how lucky they are." With that said, she closed her scroll with an aggrieved sigh.

If those kids, especially those four girls, were going to keep scaring her like this, then she would put them through the ringer and drill them until they were strong enough to defeat grimm like that in their sleep.

She opened one eye and stared oddly at mister Lenoreah, still giggling into his fist at miss Xiao Long's pun.

* * *

"Raven Lenoreah," Raven stood at attention and walked forward, his helmet held in one clawed hand. "Agni Vermillion," at the headmaster's call Agni smiled and walked forward with his halberd held at his side. "Vergil Argento," Vergil perked up and skipped forward to stand next to Raven and grabbed the white haired boy's sleeve, a sight that had the unflappable professor Goodwitch fighting back a smile. "Nefartem Gild," Goodwitch's smile fell as she watched the gaudily dressed boy saunter forward arrogantly.

"The four of you retrieved the black king pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RAVN (Raven), led by... Raven Lenoreah!" At these words, Raven blinked in surprise, having thought that the position of leader would go to the calm and collected Agni. Vergil gasped and smiled at his new leader proudly, Agni clasped his hand on Raven's shoulder reassuringly and Nefartem growled dissapointedly with sagged shoulders.

The audience, a few hundred failed student applicants, the other Beacon professors and staff workers clapped good naturedly.

"Cardin Winchester," the ginger haired knight sauntered forward with his flanged mace held over one shoulder at the sound of his name. "Russel Thrush" at the call a punkish looking boy wish his blond hair in a mohawk walked forward with his shoulders slumped forwards and his hands in his pockets. "Dove Bronzewing" A straight backed looking boy with a 'butler' sort of vibe about him and armor similar to Cardin's walked forward next to his teammates with his hands clasped behind his back. "Sky Lark" at his call, a boy with blue swept back shoulder length hair walked forward to stand in line with a calm gait.

All of them, save for Russel, seemed to have an aristocratic bearing and matching armor, implying that the three may have known each other, and being part of the same team may have been planned. But the odd one out, Russel, had his shoulders slumped forwards, as if in depression. So he may have taken their fourth friend's place, being the monkey wrench in their plan and had a sound verbal tearing down by the other three.

The screen of the auditorium showed each of their profiles as the boys were lined up for the applauding audience to see as Ozpin continued. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal), led by... Cardin Winchester!"

Cardin put his fist on his hip and grinned arrogantly while his friends verbally rewarded the boy, save for Russel who looked down and away from Cardin, all but confirming Raven's thoughts about him.

The audience gave one more wave of ovation, while the four students walked up to the stage to take their places in front of the headmaster and beside RAVN and the others who had already been called up.

"Jaune Arc" the boy sighed in relief, having half believed he wouldn't get called, even after everything that has happened so far. He straightened his back and walked forward with a noble gait, surprising most of those who know him, but the again as an Arc he actually was an aristocrat after all. "Lie Ren" Ozpin called, and the boy walked forward calmly, almost blushing in embarrassment at Nora's exuberant cheering. "Pyrrha Nikos" the red haired champion smiled and clenched her fists in front of her chest, _'this is it'_ , and just as she started walking forward she yelped and blushed as she looked back at Nora who had slapped her ass. Her head down in embarrassment, she quietly and hastily walked forward to stand in line. "Nora Valkyrie" Ozpin called, and with just as booming a voice she responded with "Ozpin...! What's your last name again?"

Professor Goodwitch gritted her teeth as her eye twtched in annoyance as Ozpn simply chuckled amusedly in response as the girl in the mismatched clothes stood in line with the others. "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper)."

Amid the clapping, Nora laughed gleefully and gave Ren a backbreaking hug.

"Led by... Jaune Arc!" Ozpin said, surprising nearly the entire hall, but none more so that Weiss who looked on bamboozled by the turn, and Jaune himself.

"Huh? L-Led by...?" Jaune stuttered at the world shaking announcement.

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin said quietly with a smile.

A grinning Pyrrha offered the boy a friendly shoulder bump to Jaune, but her "fine leader" was knocked over and fell on his butt in front of the laughing audience. Pyrrha gasped in horror and hurried to help him up.

"And finally: Ruby Rose," Ruby smiled widely and squealed in joy as she ran forward to stand in front of Ozpin. Glynda sighed at the girl's behavior and Ozpin smiled endearingly. "Weiss Schnee" Weiss livened up at the sound of her name as she walked forward in an aristocratic, graceful dance-like manner, trying with every inch of her to impress all of her onlookers. "Blake Belladonna," Blake smiled faintly and walked forward with the greatest sense of accomplishment that she had ever felt, she had worked and fought and almost died for this, so to have her name called felt damned good. "Yang Xiao Long." Yang smiled widely as she walked forward to stand next to her sister.

"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby). Led by... Ruby Rose!"

Weiss looked for the second time bamboozled as she was passed up for the hyperactive speed freak with the murder boner, where Ruby was obviously in shock as Yang gave her baby sister a backbreaking hug.

"I'm so proud of you!"

Ozpin put his scroll away and looked on at the celebrating youngsters, "it looks like things are shaping up to be an...-" his gaze rose to the overhead dome window, through which the shattered moon could clearly be seen, "-interesting year."

Glynda sighed, what Ozpin read as 'interesting', she read as 'troublesome'.

* * *

Elsewhere, a set of double doors opened as two suited men carried a heavy box inside of a shadowy room filled with shelves and a desk in the back, where world renowned master thief Roman Torchwick was getting a call on his phone. The muffled conversation ended on an obvious bad note, as Roman angrily slams the phone down with an aggrieved sigh. He holds a cigar to his mouth and puts his ornamental lighter to the end, just as a man in a white fang recruit uniform gray in with comes toward his desk with the heavy box on a trolley.

Roman stretches out his arm and slaps a stack of lien down on a table with a dramatic flourish.

"Open it" he said around his cigar.

The masked man does so with a crowbar (leaving Roman to wonder why he didn't bring an easier to open box), revealing a large amount of Dust crystals of varying colors, orange, blue, white, red, green, cyan, gold, yellow, and more. Roman picks up a blue orb shaped gem in his hand and looks over the loot.

"We're gonna need more men..." He said, removing the cigar from his mouth to tap the shes into a tray.

The others in the room followed his gaze to the map above the desk, showing Vale and various districts and areas of crossed-out locations, arrows all leading into a circled location, Beacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said, Jaune is my favorite character from canon RWBY. So while it pains me, I have to write him (for now) as a bit of a weakling who is too much in love with old fairy tales about knights and princesses and living happily ever after.
> 
> As for Weiss' posing... this is actually in character for her. Weiss is a ballet dancer, and as a ballet dancer myself I can say I have friends who do dramatic poses like this all the time. Also I might have been watching too much Code Geass and JoJo lately. Several characters are going to make dramatic poses like this, including Raven, Nefartem, Cardin, Roman, Cinder, Winter and Qrow to name a few.
> 
> I know in my other story I said I was a HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) participant learning swordsmanship. This is also true, swordsmanship and dancing are not mutually exclusive activities. I actually started at HEMA first, and then started to learn dancing to further my talents at HEMA. It worked too, I know how to use a kriegsmesser, I can dual wield a rapier and main gauche, I can use arming sword and a shield (although I'm not the best at it, in fact while I may be better at it than some, among my circle of friends I am the worst with a sword and shield), and the last weapon I can use with some level of skill is a halberd.
> 
> I wish I could say I was a master swordsman, but the truth is I claimed second or third place in every tournament I have ever participated in (including a professional fencing tournament, in which I claimed second).
> 
> Lastly, opera glasses are those awesome folding binoculars that we all thought were so cool when we were kids. Because these binoculars are meant to be used in opera halls, their magnification is limited. I have a pair that I had modified to work like normal binoculars.
> 
> But anyhow, I am terribly sorry about the wait. I feel like I should have finished it faster despite all of the distractions, my job, housework, HEMA and ballet, and my own procrastination, but c'est la vie.


	10. The Badge and the Burden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning; there is a bit of body horror in this chapter

**RAVN**

**Chapter 6**

**The Badge and the Burden**

* * *

**Warning; there is a bit of body horror in this chapter.**

* * *

Revan Lenoreah opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling. His eyes widened in panic before he looked around and saw where he was, and remembered all that had happened. He sighed in relief before looking to the side to see three empty beds. _'I guess they must have left already.'_

He sat up, but looked down in surprise. _'What is going on?'_

He swung his legs to the side and stood from the bed, almost falling over as it took a second to regain his balance when he realized that he felt heavier than he was used to.

He groggily made his way to the dorm bathroom to start his morning routine, but stopped when he noticed his reflection. His eyes widened in horror as he ran to the mirror and threw his hands against the wall to either side.

His eyes... the right one was as it should be, white sclera, blue iris and a snakelike slit pupil. But the left... he saw a burning, bloody red iris surrounded by a pit of inky black, and the pupil was more rounded on the sides, making it more catlike than snakelike.

His skin... while he had always been a bit more pale than was natural, he now wore a ghastly white pallor interspersed with unhealthy and unnatural crimson and purple veins. His horror filled eyes followed the veins just beneath his skin to his right shoulder before he felt his heart stop at the sight.

His entire right arm was covered in smooth obsidian colored scales, with bone spikes protruding from the shoulder and elbow, with bone claws forming the tips of his fingers. _'What is?!'_

He backed away from the mirror and looked down to see that the lower halves of his legs looked the same as his arm, complete with bone claws and spikes.

He backed away from the mirror, stumbling in horror at his demonic reflection as he felt bile rising from his throat. His tail waved and thrashed uneasily behind him, uncaring in his terror gripped mind as it tore through the bathroom furniture.

He screamed his horror to the world as the demonic version of himself sprang forth from the mirror and swung a black bladed longsword at him...

* * *

Raven Lenoreah bolted up in bed, screaming at the top of his lungs in horror, waking Vergil who took the bed to his immediate left, Agni who jumped in surprise at being awakened so suddenly and Nefartem, who immediately fell back to sleep, so unused to being woken up at the crack of dawn like this.

"What is it! What's wrong?" Vergil yelled, trying to calm the normally taciturn Raven, but only panicking the young man further when he tried to touch him. "Well, I'm up" Agni sighed, rising from the bed to help Vergil calm their thrashing leader.

"What's wrong with him?" He tried asking, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with the back of his hand. "I don't know! He just woke up and started screaming!"

Agni aided Vergil in trying to pin down the white haired boy, not an easy task given his surprisingly scrawny frame, while they tried to calm him down from whatever night terror he must have been experiencing.

"Come on Raven, wake up! You're just dreaming!" Vergil tried to reason with the thrashing teen, but his words fell on deaf ears as his own screams drowned them out.

"Nefartem, will you please give us a hand over here?"

* * *

Yang woke herself with a sneeze, looked around her dorm in confusion, and then promptly fell back to sleep.

* * *

The lion faunus' only response was to raise one arm in the air and flip Agni the bird.

Agni cursed when the metal stump of Raven's leg slammed into his thigh, and his right hand fell away from the other teen's shoulder before falling to his tail, finding a soft spot on the underside near the base and pressing into it with the tip of one finger.

Raven, face down on his bed at this point, went completely still with his back bowed and his eyes wide as he was yanked out of his dream.

"Raven, you're okay!" Vergil cried out in relief upon seeing his friend no longer thrashing in terror on his bed. Raven remained completely still for a full second before collapsing to his bed, exhausted.

Agni stared in disbelief at what just happened, what he just did, before hiding his hand behind his back in mortification.

His face adopted a solemn expression as he looked down at the panting teen.

* * *

**Flashback**

_The door to their dorm opened, as the newly formed team RAVN walked, or skipped in the case of the ever exuberant Vergil, before without a word, Raven walked to the bed nearest to the far wall and sat down._

_"Well then," Agni began, "let us introduce ourselves again as teammates, shall we?" He proposed with a winning smile. Nefartem sighed, flopping down on a bed, but relented. Vergil skipped toward the bed to Raven's left and sat down, nodding with a cheerful noise of agreement. Raven, tired out from the day, just nodded his head._

_Chuckling at his team's behavior, he lead the charge, saying "well then, I am Agni Vermilion." He withdrew a leather bound wallet from his coat, and removed a photo of an ebony skinned woman roughly ten years his senior with her long hair in cornrows, with small silver rings fixed to the end of each braid, wine red eyes with slit, snakelike pupils and a slightly rounded belly. "This is my lovely wife Kali Vermilion, and in eight months time I will introduce you all to our adorable baby girl Parvati!"_

_Raven looked up to see the exited look on the young man's face at the thought of his wife and future child._

_Vergil jumped up from his bed and enveloped Agni in a bone crushing hug, "congratulations, I'm so happy for you!"_

_Nefartem however, just had to pop Agni's bubble. "You said you have eight months to go, so how do you know you will be having a girl?"_

_Agni's face fell and he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at getting ahead of himself in his excitement. Raven shook his head at the other faunus' lack of tact, "well" Agni started to say in response with a light blush "I've always wanted to have a daughter some day. I have ever since I was little, when I used to play games with my own mother."_

_"What about your father?" Vergil asked with a tilted head. Given his past with his own parents, it was clear that he was expecting a sad story about Agni not having a father, or his father leaving him. But the answer couldn't be any more different, and he honestly felt a little jealous for it. "My father was there too, but we were never as close as me and my mom."_

_Raven smiled, leaning his chin into his hand, at least he had one teammate with a happy upbringing. Vergil introduced himself next, raising his hand high into the air and yelling "and I'm Vergil Argento! I hope we can all become good friends!" Agni smiled endearingly at the boy and ruffled his hair._

_Since it seemed that was all they were getting out of the boy, Nefartem decided to go next. Standing from his bed and putting hes left leg behind his right and pointing to his heart with his thumb in a cocky, flamboyant pose, he shouted "and I am Nefartem Gild of Vacuo! Sorry to say," he lowered his hand, and rested both his fists on his hips, "but we can only get along if you have a decent sense of fashion."_

_"You got that!" He threw out one arm and pointed at no one in particular._

_Agni sighed into his hand, Vergil cocked his head in confusion and Raven rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance._

_Figuring that it was his turn to introduce himself, he stood and said "I am Raven Lenoreah. I was born in a small town in western Mistral, and I spent the last four years traveling Remnant as a mercenary."_

_He sat back down, having finished telling them all that he was prepared to tell them for now. The three of them looked at him intently as his introduction was the most curt._

_Vergil's introduction had been shorter, but was said in a cheerful manner, while his own was monotone and said in a matter of fact manner._

_Raven lied back down to prepare for bed, but just as he was about to cover himself up, the voice of Vergil bore into his ear "Raven?"_

_When the young man turned to look at the boy, he followed up his inquiry with "aren't you going to take off your armor first?"_

_Raven stiffened as the others turned to look at him. Vergil with innocent, questioning eyes, Agni looking off to the side uncomfortably as he had figured out Raven's secret earlier on, and Nefartem looking on with an eyebrow raised, incredulous that he would try to go to bed in full armor._

_With a sigh, Raven sat back up and grabbed the large briefcase that lay under his bed._

_After the students had left the forest, Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch had recorded the order in which they had passed the initiation, as well as the teams they would be on. Thus, they had organize which teams would be assigned which rooms within the castle, and had the students luggage carried up to the rooms by the castle staff._

_Withdrawing the briefcase, he opened it to reveal four empty hollow spaces, three of them elongated and oddly shaped and the fourth small and round, with more hollow spaces filled with tools._

_Taking a screwdriver and an odd tool resembling a thick, blunt knife, he got to work on his right shoulder. Removing the outermost paultron, he started to unscrew four screws on the front of his shoulder._

_Vergil chewed on his thumb as he watched his new friend, curious at the unusually complex armor. Nefartem,on the other hand, realized exactly what was going on and was looking away uncomfortably, Agni had his book in front of his face in an attempt to draw his focus elsewhere._

_Raven put down the screwdriver and the four screws on his bedside table, and took away a small, square shaped plate from his shoulder to reveal a small slit shape underneath._

_The young man inhaled through his nose, taking a deep breath in preparation as he fitted the knife shaped tool into the slit. Holding his breath in anticipation of the pain to come, he twisted the tool a quarter inch to the right, moving the inner mechanism in his prosthetic arm, disconnecting the wiring and servos in his arm from the delicate mechanisms and nerve endings in the housing system that was his shoulder._

_A scream of immense pain tore_ _itself_ _from his throat, muffled by his clenched teeth has his prosthetic arm went completely limp as it was no longer being supplied with bioelectricity._

_This was a process that needed to be repeated every time he attached his prosthetics to his body, or removed them, and the accompanying pain was similar to having his limbs severed from his body all over again. This process needed to be repeated every time his limbs were damaged in combat, and whenever he needed to preform maintenance upon them._

_Maintenance needed to be preformed upon his prosthetics twice a week, once a week if he was having a good week._

_Vergil gasped in horror at his friend's pained expression while the others tried not to notice._

_Raven straightened his back, and with another deep breath he lifted his right arm off of its housing system and away from his body, he bent it at a right angle at the elbow and fitted it into one of the hollow spaces in the brief case._

__When Raven moved to pick up the screwdriver again, Vergil realized that Raven wasn't finished his macabre 'disassembly'. "Do you... want any help?"_ _

__Raven paused, no one had ever offered to help him with this task before, at least none wanting to honestly help. Whenever someone had discovered the truth about his body, they had always turned away. Either in fear or disgust, he didn't care about their motives for turning away._ _

__Worse were the ones who didn't turn away. Unlike Vergil who seemed to genuinely want to help, the ones who didn't turn away upon discovering the truth always assumed him to be a helpless cripple, offering to help him out of a misplaced sense of pity._ _

__"No, that's alright." He didn't want to be rude to the boy, as the look in his eyes weren't one of pity or disgust, but he wasn't comfortable enough around people yet to let them touch his prosthetics in such an intimate manner._ _

__He removed the diamond shaped plates covering his 'knees' and pulled his leather pants out of the metal plates on his legs, he took the screwdriver and started to remove a plate to the side of where his knees were supposed to be, revealing more slit shapes. Picking up the knife shaped tool, he inhaled deeply once more before he disconnected his lower legs from his body, one after another, once more biting back a scream of pain as he felt his legs be cut in half._ _

__A few tears escaped from his right eye, but not the left at his pain._ _

__His teammates reactions were varied at finding out the extent of their leaders disfigurements. Vergil was close to tears and looked like he wanted nothing more than to throw himself at his leader in comforting embrace, Agni had completely turned away, his nose buried in his book, his left hand clenched in a tight fist at his side. He had heard of cyborgs before, but never thought he would meet one with how rare they were outside of Atlas. Nefartem's reaction was somewhere in the middle, he was clenching his the bedding tightly in his fists as his lion ears were pressed tightly to his head. On one hand he wanted to comfort his leader, and on the other he wanted to burst out of the dorm and run far away._ _

__Raven picked up his lower legs and fitted them into the two empty hollows in his briefcase. The last hollow, which would fit his prosthetic eye, remained empty. His eye was very rarely damaged in battle, and more work went into it than his arm or legs, so maintenance was relegated to once a month._ _

__Now, with his prosthetics removed, he was free to take off his clothes. Out in the field the need to disrobe was tertiary to anything else, so he designed his limbs to lock his clothing in place._ _

_He pulled up the sleeve of his coat, revealing his gauntlet to go all the way up to his elbow, secured to his arm with leather bands. He unbuckled them and removed the clawed gauntlet, setting it down on his nightstand. That done, he shrugged the coat from his shoulders and let the heavy garment fall to the ground._

_Vergil, the only one still looking at Raven, squeaked in surprise. The coat in question had a lot of padding, making Raven's body look more robust than it really was. His body free of the heavy coat, was revealed to skinny, in fact, while it was difficult to tell due to Raven's turtleneck, it didn't look like he had much muscle mass at all._

_Raven removed his breastplate and pulled his turtleneck over his head, and... he was right. Very little to no muscle mass to speak of. In fact, with his skinny torso, the long white hair falling over his shoulders, his missing limbs and his heart-shaped, girly face with those thin rectangular glasses... He understood why that coat had so much padding._

_Raven, as he really was, was not intimidating at all. Definitely not the body of a fearsome mercenary._

_Suddenly the mask made sense._

__Raven's strong, obsidian scaled tail coiled on the floor by his bed and lifted his body off of the bed so he could take of his leather short pants. The tail itself was long, roughly equal with Raven's total height when standing with his prosthetic legs, and was very think, almost five inches at the base._ _

__The young man, physically and emotionally drained, collapsed upon his bed and dragged the covers over his body, covering his head. Vergil, Agni and Nefartem, heads spinning from this newest of developments, crawled into bed themselves and lied there in silence until they were safely under Merpheus' spell._ _

* * *

Raven lay in bed, panting as he recovered from his nightmare and his... awakening.

Wordlessly, he lifted himself into an upright position with his arm and grabbed the hanger holding his Beacon academy uniform with his tail, grabbing the handle of the briefcase containing his prosthetics in his hand, and he jumped awkwardly from the bed and shuffled into the bathroom for a shower.

Vergil and Agni were left standing there, awkwardly staring after their leader, wondering just what they had gotten themselves into. Nefartem, on the other hand, was free to catch up on his sleep before classes began.

* * *

Thirty minutes later saw Raven, fresh from his shower, dressed in his uniform, attaching his arm to his body. He had already done his legs, so all that was left was his arm before his team could leave for their first day of class.

He twisted the knife shaped tool, sealing his prosthetic arm to the housing system, fusing the wiring in his arm to the mechanisms in the housing systems which in turn were fused to his nerve endings, allowing the arm to receive bioelectric signals from his brain. This function served the dual purpose of powering the arm itself as well as telling the servos and actuators within what to do, just as the brain would tell a flesh and blood arm what to do... only with a split second of a delay, as cybernetics have yet to catch up with natural biology.

Raven, once again, was forced to bite back a scream of pain. If anything, attaching his prosthetics hurt more than removing them.

Vergil felt that it was safe to speak again now that now that Raven's morning ritual was finished, and now the uncomfortable, oppressive air that accompanied it was no longer pressing down on their heads.

"So..." he gulped, he wanted to ask but he was scared the question would bee too tactless, "what was your dream about?" Agni and Nefartem looked at the boy out of the corner of their eyes, their eyes saying _you don't just ask someone about a dream that had them screaming in terror!_

It was clear from his tone of voice that Vergil was expecting an explanation along the lines of how Raven's body was damaged to such an extent in the first place.

Raven looked up at his teammates for a full second before looking down at his lap. "It was..."

He shuddered as he recalled his demonic reflection in the dream mirror.

Raven clasped his head in his hands as he remembered his life as a mercenary, the things that he did.

He lifted his head before looking at his clawed, metal right hand.

"It revealed me to me what I really am."

Vergil cocked his head to the side as the others looked on questioningly. Raven closed his eyes as he saw the faces of all the people who had ended up victims in his wake, as he had selfishly decided that his own survival was more important than theirs.

"And... what did your dream show you?" Agni asked in a solemn voice, noting Raven's tone.

Raven's hand fell to his bed as he spoke.

"A monster."

* * *

Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrah Nikos and Lie Ren found themselves running through the halls, uncaring as to who was in their way, as their first day as official students of Beacon found them late for thier very first class.

Their brilliant leader, the afformentioned Ms. Rose had thought it a good idea to spend the morning of their first day converting their beds into very precariously positioned bunk beds.

This well concieved early morning activity had drawn on entirely too long, leading to Ms. Schnee realizing their tardiness which in turn lead to their mad dash through the halls.

The other team rushing alongside them did not have such an excuse, however strange said excuse was. The newly minted team JNPR were simply unused to such a schedule and had overslept.

The two teams, in their hurry, almost did not notice as they sped past the headmaster of their school Professor Ozpin and his right hand woman Ms. Glynda Goodwitch. Glynda harrumphed at the potential troublemakers running through the halls and looked at her watch condescendingly at their tardiness, while her coworker simply looked after them and sipped his coffee.

It was only a little later that they actually did crash into somebody.

Raven Lenoreah, Vergil Argento, Agni Vermillion and Nefartem Gild had actually woken up on time. Not due to being accostomed to their new schedule, but due to their leader's violent awakening from a nightmare. Upon getting showered and dressed for the new day, the young man had revealed why his dream had him so out of sorts, as his dream had shown him his true opinion of himself personified, and what he saw was a horrid demon.

Thus, their walk to class was a quiet and uncomfortable one. With each of them contemplating their leader's words, brooding, or questioning why the snake faunus hadn't simply killed himself already if he tuly thought himself such a monster. Of course the air of tension around them was broken when, as they had almost reached their destination, eight idiots running through the halls and causing a ruckus that should be illegal so early in the morning crashed into them, and sent them tumbling to the floor.

"Oof!" Raven gasped as the air left his lungs as he collided a blond figure and sent to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Yang Xiao Long simply lie on the floor for a second, too dazed to question why the ground was so lumpy, as she regained her wits. Shaking her head and pushing herself to her elbows, she looked at the young man underneath her, in a very compromising possition with herself no less, and grinned half seductively and half jokingly.

"Falling for me already?" Raven chuckled quietly as a chorus of groans echoed back at him. He grabbed Yang's waist and she almost let out a yelp, not expecting him to take her up on her flirting. He managed to get his legs underneath him and stand and set her on her feet, immediately backing a few paces away from her.

Yang blinked owlishly, she had expected him to blush and flail uselessly like the other young men she had ended up in such a compromising position with in the past, but this one seemed... not into her. Like the way an artist would admire a sunset or the sky after a storm, it was an aesthetic appreciation, but not a sexual attraction.

She had to admit, she was a little intrigued.

As everyone else was getting up from their spots on the floor, Yang's eyes were drawn to Raven's arm. Or rather, by the question of why he was still wearing armor even after having changed into his school uniform. Her eyes falling lower in her examination of his figure that she noticed that he wore armor on his legs as well, but only from the knees down, oddly enough.

They were also out of proportion to the rest of his body, creating a somewhat uncanny look. There must have been some padding in that coat he wore yesterday, or in whatever he wore underneath it, as he didn't appear quite as imposing as he did yesterday. His armored arm and legs were thick and strong looking, but the rest of his body was thin and lanky. She also noticed that there was a long, thick, scaly black and grey tail behind him, also previously hidden by his coat.

Not only that, but he still carried his weapons on his person.

A large ornate revolver was srapped to his left thigh in a black leather holster, while his warsword hung from the right side of his belt, ready to be drawn by his unarmored left hand at a moments notice.

Noticing her questioning look, Raven supressed a sigh and elaborated, at this point all but succombing to the inevitability that he would never be able to avoid these girls during his stay at Beacon, as the universe itself seemed to be against the very notion. "It's not against the rules to carry weapons on your person during school hours, but doing so will put you under scrutiny by the school staff as a potential troublemaker."

Yang nodded, his explanation didn't seem far fetched, seeing as this was a school for warriors. But if it wasn't true and it was against the rules, she was in trouble. Her weapons were a fashion accessory, and it would be odd to keep them in a locker all the time. In a burst of rose petals, Ruby appeared in his face, causing him to suppress a gasp and back away a step, his hand grasping the hilt of his sword, his tail swishing nervously behind him.

"Is that true? You mean I didn't have to lock my baby away in a locker!?" Question after question spilled from the mouth of one Ruby Rose at the older boy's words regarding her favorite subject. "You didn't read the rulebook, did you?" Ruby ignored the question, instead daydreaming about her weapon... and Raven forcibly turned away from her.

Even having taken his chemical castration pills, anxiety medication and mood elevators, this girl was starting to creep him out. Instead he payed attention to the conversations between the rest of the group.

"Hello again" Pyrrha exclaimed happily upon recognitoin of the other redhead present. "Good to see you Ms. Nikos, you look in top form," the two respective redheads teams turned to the two in surprise at their apparent familiarity.

"You two know each other?" Vergil asked the two, and Agni nodded to the boy and explained "we both took part in the Mistral tournament last year. Ms. Nikos defeated me in the finals, so while she took gold I merely claimed silver."

"Wow!" Vergil looked at Pyrrha with admiring eyes and his fists held inder his chin, his ears perked up adorably and his tail swaying happily behind him. "You must be really strong, Ms. Pyrrha!"

Fortunately, before the blushing Pyrrha could address the adorable boy's praise (or question why he was wearing a girls uniform), he was lifted off the ground by Nora, who crushed the boy in a backbreaking hug.

"Oh you are so cute!" The orange haired girl gushed as she squeezed the boy, unfazed by his whining and squirming.

"NOO! Let me go!" The boy cried, flailing his limbs desparately to get out of the girl's painful grip.

Jaune hung back, looking hesitant to get involved in the crazy antics of his teammates, and Nefartem hung back with a cross look on his face, muttering about filthy floors and rolling a lint roller over his uniform, trying to remove any dirt that clung to it from their little tumble.

Blake and Weiss similarly hung back from the commotion. Weiss, after spending so many years around so many outspoken racists, even if no one in Atlas ever called them out on their bias, didn't know what to think upon being surrounded by so many faunus. Blake had similar worries to her monochromatic counterpart, but for very different reasons.

"Umm," a strong but quiet voice cut through the ruckus in the hall like a hot knife through butter, leaving many of those in earshot to wonder how he managed such a feat. "Don't you think we should get to class now? It wouldn't do to be late to our very first class, now would it." Lie Ren questioned them, but the question had such an air of calm seriousness about it, that it felt more like a demand.

* * *

"Monsters!" Boomed their Professor Peter Port, a man apparently just beginning his transition from middle adged to elderly. The man wore an old fashioned double-breasted burgundy suit with gold piping and buttons. His burgundy trousers were tucked into high olive boots, which seemed to be made in homage to the boots of cavalry soldiers from the Great War era.

He had graying hair worn in a style popular among Vale's nobility about two or three decades ago, and a gray mustache that bore a slight shine from some brand of mustache wax. He also appeared to be slightly... jolly, as if he had let himself go in his tenure as a teacher, but he could tell even from his seat in the back of the lecture hall that the man had more than enough muscle to make up for it.

"Deeeemons..." Prof. Port said dramatcally, making a scary face and gesturing with his hands, seeming to forget that his students were higher up than himself, so the effect was ruined.

"Prowlers of the night!" The man finished the introduction to his speech in a dramatic flair. Raven had to hand it to him, he definitely had a flair for the dramatic.

"Yes, the Creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!"

The members of team RAVN, along with the two teams Raven had unwillingly acquainted himself with so far RWBY and JNPR, seated on the left side of the front row and the right side of the middle row respectively, were in varying stages of interest; Raven was paying a loose attention, Agni was paying rapt attention, far to polite to do otherwise, Nefartem had his feet leaning on his desk and was typing away on his scroll and Vergil was clinging to Raven's arm, scared by Ports introduction.

Jaune was sitting in his chair with his back ramrod straight. Blake was sitting up and paying attention, Yang had her head leaning into an open hand and was watching Port with a bored look in her eyes, Weiss was taking notes (on what? He hasn't said anything important yet), and Ruby was mirroring her older sister's posture, but was sneaking a quick nap until she was woken back up by Port's bad joke, which receives a cricket-filled silence otherwise.

"Uhhhh..." the man pulled on the collar of his suit awkwardly at the cold reception from his students, "and you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy!" he announced, managing to save his presentation.

"Now, as I was saying" he started, moving on to the actual lesson. Many students in the hall, bored by Port's introduction, sat up and payed attention, eager to hear their first lesson at Beacon. Port walked around his desk to the corkboard covered with pictures of detailed grimm anatomy, with arrows to highlight the strong and weak points on their bodies.

What's more, the room could be mistaken for a trophy room, with heads of grimm of all stripes adorning the walls, taxidermied recreations of grimm in powerful poses standing on the floor, skeletons of flying grimm hanging from the cieling...

Of course the entirety of a grimm's body, save for the skeleton and bone mask, disolved entirely when they were killed. Scientists may have tried to study the bodies of grimm throughout the ages, but they had to content themselves with mere bones. Taxidermists had to use the skeleton and mask as a base, and recreate the body and fur, scales, feathers or whatever else with whatever they had lying around.

Appropriately, their first and most important class was Grimm Studies. Huntsman were many things, heroes and vigilantes, mercenaries in the employ of the kingdoms, but first and foremost they were warriors trained spacifically to fight the Creatures of Grimm and keep the people safe from them.

"Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces!" Here, Port gesticulated with his hands, likely remembering some truly desperate encounter from his past.

"And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." here, he gave a wink to someone standing in the back of the room, and a quick turn of his head confirmed that it was Ms. Goodwitch, observing the class from the back and rolling her eyes, but more noticable was the various females throughout the room, groaning in distaste as they all thought that he was flirting with them.

Raven rolled his eyes. As ironic as it was, he hated teenagers. They were short sighted, arrogant and always had to make things about themselves. It was a good thing he only had two years left as one.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

"Ayyyy-yep!" He heard from the other side of the lecture hall, and when he looked over he saw a student standing with his fist in the air. A strangely out of uniform (which would get him a few points docked, or whatever secret way the teachers had of grading them, from Ms. Goodwitch and/or Prof. Port) student was standing with his fist in the air, whom he remembered faintly from the entrance ceremony as Auburn something or other.

The young man simply stood there awkwardly for a moment as everyone looks at him strangely before he sat back down, crossing his arms and his head lowered in embaressment.

Nonplussed for a moment, Prof. Port continued. "That is what you are training to become. But first: A story."

"A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..." As the professor frawled on, Raven raised his eyebrow, an anecdotal lesson? That was unusual, but then again there was no greater teacher than experience. And if their proffessor wanted to teach them by sharing his experiences, who was he to judge.

As the seconds became minutes, Raven found himself incresingly bored. Port's story was... minorly interestingly, unlikely to get to the meat of the subject at hand until much later. But the more pressing matter was the fact that his eyelids were getting very heavy.

Raven didn't want to beging school by falling asleep in his first class! What kind of precedent did that set? But as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, he could at lest make sure his head was propped up in his hand to make sure it just looked like he was paying attention with his eyes closed.

He didn't snore, at least, and he wasn't a heavy breather, so he was sure he'd be okay... he'd apologize to Port for falling asleep later, though he'd probably get detention, or study hall or remedial lessons or whatever Beacon did as punishment.

Just before he dozed off, he looked to the size to see Vergil paying rapt attention. He guessed the boy's parents didn't tell him enough stories when he was little, so he was reaching out to any storyteller he had available.

"Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me..."

* * *

_It was raining. Back in his heavy coat and armor, Raven crouched in the brush of the jungles of Mistral. He slowly assembled his sniper rifle as he looked through his opera binoculars at his current target._

_One hundred and fifty meters to the northwest, there was a clearing filled to the brim with tents, banners, and crates of weapons sporting the red wolf head and scratches that was the White Fang logo._

_In the center of the clearing was a male tiger faunus, large and intimidating, he wore a traditional black outfit with a red cloak rather than the standard black and white uniform._

_Raven gulped nurvously, his free manner of dress identified him as at least captain rank. If this didn't work then he would need to run immediately, as this was a fight that he would not be able to win, and even if this did work then there were far to many WF warriors down there for any one person to beat on their own._

_Not quite ready to make the shot yet, he increased magnification and looked around the clearing at those in attendance. There were many faunus; cats, dogs, deer, bats, even a spider._

_He sneered, he had seen a few of these meeting so far by different WF groups, and they all seemed to have one thing in common._

_No reptile faunus, and the few exceptions that he had born witness to, not a one of them were venomous._ _The White Fang touted itself as a group for all faunus, but it seemed that they were just as prejudiced as humans._ _He could understand in a way, no one wanted to get poisoned with just a bite or a scratch or something, so they all stayed away._

_But to be outcast by a circumstance of birth? Sienna Khan was no better than Jacques Shnee, which was why, when Schnee Dust Company posted a bounty for Sienna's nephew Ochre, he jumped at the opportunity._

_Furrowing his brows, he increased the magnification of his folding binochulars once again to make sure what he was seering was real._

_In the front row of the crowd was a cat faunus, apparently the same age as himself. It was hard to tell, he couldn't see fine features as things were kind of blurry this far away, but she seemed to be a dark haired girl. She was leaning against an older man, ox or bull faunus with reddish hair._

_He gripped his opera binochulars in anger. The White Fang would stoop so low as to use children!? True, at 16 he was technically a child as well, but he was a freelance mercenary, the WF were an official organization. The standards were very different!_

_His resolve bolstered by this sudden revalation, he reached down to the ground where his mask lay alongside a briefcase for the disassembled parts for his sniper rifle, and picked up a titanium device that seemed to be a cage with a needle on the end. Opening his mouth, he removed a vial with a rubber top being stabbed with one of his fangs, allowing it to fill with his venom._

_Some assassins carried pre-filled vials of poison ready for use, but since his venom (a deadly neurotoxin) was so potent, carrying around vials of it was extremely dangerous._

_Taking the rubber top off of the vial, Raven carefully pit the vial inside of the syringe, and taking a titanium disc shaped piece, he screwed it closed._

_Putting the syringe round into the chamber of his rifle, he cocked it and aimed the weapon straight at Ochre._

_After roughly half a minute to account for the rain, the wind and Ochre's pacing, he inhaled deeply to calm his nerves, and on the exhale... he squeezed the trigger!_

* * *

"Ah-heh-hem!" Raven's eyes snapped open, luckily without making any loud noise that would have made it obvious what he was doing. Some weren't so lucky he noticed, as the fell flat on their faces or out of their chairs, let out loud gasps or groans, etcetera.

Prof. Port waited until all attention was on him once more, and his gaze passed over the students to make sure it was, before he began again.

Inhaling, he continued his lecture "in the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"

 _'Captivity? He actually captured it alive?'_ Raven was suddenly sorry he missed Port's lecture, but judging from Vergil's enraptured expression he'd get it all repeated back at him again from the younger teen.

The teacher took a bow, no doubt recalling that memory and acting it out.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!" Raven closed his eyes, thinking how he could go about his time at Beacon in order to change himself from a common mercenary into someone who fit that criteria.

"A true Huntsman must be dependable!" Raven nodded, adding to his mental checklist.

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!" Raven nodded again. He'd like to think himself quite the strategist, but he was no fool and knew that he had a long way to go, especially seeing as all but a few of his known strategies only counted upon himself and no one else.

The second point was why he was here, and just to be sure he would make sure to sign up for extra lessons and as many objective classes as he could.

The third point, however, came with experience. He probably wouldn't be truly wise until he was much older, but he hoped to have as much experience as possible by the time he graduated.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" Port offered, expecting at least one person to come forward. Teenagers were supremely confident, especially these teenagers who have spent their lives training and honing their abilities.

Every year, there was always at least one, and it was always a favored teaching method of his to target those few who came foreward throughout their years at Beacon, breaking them of their arrogance and building them up into true Huntsman and Huntresses!

Raven sat back and stayed silent, knowing that he clearly didn't fit the bill. But it seemed not everyone was as self-aware as he was.

"I do, sir!" In the front row of the lecture hall, the Schnee girl was angrily raising her hand. Raven facepalmed and sighed in exasperation, but what else could he expect? From day one, she must have been told repeatedly that she was better than everyone else because she was a special snowflake.

Port smiled under his large mustache, amused by the young girl's confident proclamation. "Well, then, let's find out!" He picked up his weapon, a blunderbuss with two axe heads attatched to the stock, and with the flair of a great showman he turned to gesture at a a shaking cage with two glowing red eyes inside of it.

_'He captured a live grimm and brought it into the school? Seems he hasn't lost his touch.'_

"Step forward, and face your opponent!"

Weiss looked suddenly timid, as if she didn't expect to be suddenly put on the spot despite actively putting herself on the spot just earlier.

The girl inhaled deeply and replaced her nervous expression with an arrogant mask as she left her desk and walked to stand next to Prof. Port as she took out her scroll to summon her locker, and looking up he saw seven square hollows, with steel plates that would slide open to admit oncoming lockers, which as he predicted slid open to allow Weiss' locker toenter the room.

"Go Weiss!" he heard from the front, and when he looked he saw Yang with her fist in the air, she had seen that Weiss was nervous despite her bravado and was trying to cheer her up.

"Fight well!" Blake cheered quietly, waving a small triangular flag with RWBY's team name on it.

Raven's face scrunched up questioningly and the tip of his tail quircked up a bit, where did they get that? Did Beacon have little triangular flags made for people to cheer on their teammates with?

"Yeah, represent teeeeam RWBY!" Ruby Rose cheered adorably, and Raven had to smile a bit.

Weiss lowered her rapier and yelled at the girl "Ruby! I'm trying to focus!"

"Oh, um... Sorry..." the girl muttered sheepishly, and Raven had to wonder why she singled her out, as her teemmates were all distracting her.

"Allllright!" Prof. Port announced dramatically, raising his strangely designed axe, "let the match... begin!"

The professor swungs down and broke the lock, dropping the cage door and revealing the Boarbatusk, a greimm resembling a large warthog, inside.

 _'A boarbatusk? Not very threatening by itself, but very difficult to overcome in packs. However, it is perfect to guage the strength of an overconfident student.'_ Raven mused.

The boarbatusk immediately charged at Weiss. She used her rapier to deflect its attack and roll to the side, readying herself for its next move. The Grimm snorted and stood a distance away from its enemy, studying her.

"Ha-ha! Weren't expecting that, were you?" Prof. Port said to... the grimm? in an attempt to add to the drama of what was happening.

"Hang in there, Weiss!" yelled Weiss' team leader, but the girl just grit her teeth in anger.

 _'Ah'_ Raven figured out what was happening. Schnee figured that she, as the 'obvious' superior, should have been the team leader instead, but when the headmaster made Ruby team leader instead, it just made her angry, and now she was taking it out on her.

He put his face in his hand, was this the kind of teen drama he would have to deal with in his entire stay at Beacon?

Weiss was now speeding towards the oncoming Boarbatusk, aiming to stab her blade dead center between its eyes until they meet and Myrtenaster became trapped in the beast's tusks.

 _'What!?'_ Raven thought incredulously, ' _how does that even happen? *sigh* whoever made that rapier must have made the blade too rigid.'_

Weiss was still hanging on to the hilt, and was subsequently being tossed around as she struggles to get the rapier back. Looking closely at the white haired girl's face, Weiss was scared and nervous, but was masking it all with a confident expression as she focused on not only the task at hand, but on her spectators as well.

 _'The lady doth have aught to prove, me thinks. But to us, or to herself?'_ Raven thought, rubbing his chin with his flesh and blood hand, his tail coiling in loops and betraying his thoughtfulness.

"Pah" Nefartem, as if hearing his thoughts, spat. Raven looked to the side to see the lion faunus with his face buried in his scroll, doing his upmost to avoid even looking at the Schnee girl. _'It seems I'm not the only one with hatred for the prodigal family of Atlas.'_ Raven closed his eyes and laced his fingers together in front of his face as his tail relaxed from its movements, _'but whereas I am ruled by reason and logic, and am apt to change my opinions when presented with new data, it seems this one is ruled by emotion, and is not one to bend his thoughts so easily.'_

"Bold, new approach. I like it!"

"Come on, Weiss, show it who's boss!"

Weiss turned to glare at Ruby, only for the Boarbatusk to turn its head and rip the sword from her grip. Myrtenaster landed far away from its 'master', who was then knocked back by the creature's tusks.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?" Raven nodded, anyone could kill a grimm with a weapon with enough training with it, but the mark of a true Huntsman (he was guessing) was if they could kill a grimm withought a weapon.

Weiss looked up just in time to see the Boarbatusk to charge again, rolled out of the way just in time to avoid getting trampled and made it crash into a desk instead. Weiss rushed at her sword and slid on the ground to get it back in her hand. Raven sighed, he had heard quite a bit about the Schnee family hereditary semblance, their glyphs.

He could think of quite a few combinations that could tear that boarbatusk to pieces, but it seemed that her mind was too fixed on traditional fighting to think outside the box like that.

_'I suppose that's what Beacon is for.'_

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled at her teammate, "go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-"

The white haired girl turned to Ruby and yelled back "stop telling me what to do!"

Ruby looked hurt at Weiss' rebuttal, while in the back row Raven sighed.

Meanwhile, the Boarbatusk leaped into the air and curled into a ball, spinning rapidly in the air and landing on the ground, consistently gaining speed until it launched itself at Weiss. It came closer and closer to flattening her, but Weiss posed with her sword and activated a white glyph and blocked the roll, leaping up into the now-black snowflake symbol and turned it white again so she could drive the blade into the Boarbatusk's stomach.

The large, piglike grimm spasmed and squealed once and then fell silent while Weiss gasped in relief. However, her anger started to build once again, as she realized that she only killed it when she started to following Ruby's orders.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Prof. Ports congradulated her, slowly clapping his hands and walking toward her.

"It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress 'in training'!"

It didn't escape the notice of anyone as Prof. Port stressed the 'in training' part of his speech.

Weiss gritted her teeth in frustration, standing at attention from her exhausted position, _'I already know I have a long way to go. Winter was very clear about that.'_

Raven frowned down at the white haired girl, sensing that there was more to her than just 'Jacques' daughter'.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today." Prof. port continued, breaking him out of his reverie. "Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... constant vigilance! Class dismissed!"

Weiss glared down at the ground with tears in the corners of her eys while she clenched her fists in anger before turning away from her teammates who had come down to congradulate her, behore walking away as calmly as she could manage, trying to avoid storming off and seeming a child throwing a tantrum, walking hurriedly to the exit and away from the judging eyes of her peers.

In the back row, Raven bit the end of his pen and chewed it idly, wondering if he should reevaluate his opinion of her based on what he had seen here, before Vergil grabbed his arm and pulled him up. He shook his head, and looked to see that, lost in his train of though, he didn't notice as Nefartem and Agni rose from their seets and started to walk down the aisle toward the door.

Raven put these thoughts to the back of his mind and rose to follow Vergil to their next class.

* * *

And that's a wrap! I'm ending this chapter here, I origionally wanted to write the interplay between Ruby and Ozpin, Weiss and Port, and Raven with a different teacher (probably Goodwitch), but when I think about it, Raven has already learned his lesson (just more subtly).

Again, I don't hate Weiss. She's one of my favorite characters from the show. Her character arc is going to go the same way in this story as it did in the show (the way I saw it, anyway). It's going to be divided up between the first three story arcs, volume one is going to see her become a good teammate, volume two is going to see her become a good friend, and finally volume three is going to see her becoming a good person overall.

I apologize about the lack of drama in Weiss' fight with the Boarbatusk. That was just Weiss' being called out for her seeming arrogance, and didn't seem to deserve the extra effort.

Sory about the wait, my internet connectivity has been spotty over the past few months, and I've been having a hard time getting anything done.

Please review and tell my your thoughts, and stay awesome.


	11. Falling Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the start of the first major diverging point from canon. The events of this chapter are inspired by Celtic Phoenix Productions and Unicorn of War's Fixing RWBY Volume 1 videos on Youtube.
> 
> I apologize profusely for the long wait. I've been extremely busy, I had to shut down my internet connectoion and my hotspot connectivity is unreliable at the best of times.
> 
> Also I'm lazy... I have no excuse for that.
> 
> Anywho, please enjoy my mad ravings.

Raven sighed in exhaustion as he sat down in his chair, thankeful for the gap between the seat and the backrest that allowed him to slide his tail through. If the staff of Beacon had not thought to accomadate potential students with tails or wings or other such exotic features, then his time at this collage would be very uncomfortable.

After leaving Prof. Port's class early this morning, team RAVN had attended three more classes, Huntsman Regulation and Law, World History and Infrastructure. The class that they were starting now was the last class of the day, Advanced Weapon Building.

One thing that stuck out to him throughout the day was that teams RWBY, JNPR and CRDL were always there in the same classes. For whatever reason, be it the luck of the draw or a scheme by some higher up to put the three teams in closer proximity (though he doubted that being the actual reason), he still cursed his luck.

Why couldn't the world just leave him alone? Being stuck with three boys was fine, that he could deal with. It was better than being stuck with three girls. Were that the case, he was sure he'd either die of heart failure or end up killing himself or them. He was fine with being put on a team, he could adjust.

But being in such close proximity to three other teams of four? For his entire life, the world rejected him and he rejected the world right back. To go from that to being forced to socialize with so many people he didn't know?

He already had enough mental problems, he didn't need more when they inevitably rejected him.

Shaking his head to clear it of thoughts, he focused instead oon his class schedule. Tomorrow would be four different classes, those being Mercenary Economics, a topic he had spent several years learning already, Psychology, Sociology, and finally Sparring and Team Building.

The day after that would be focused on a single extra long class, that being Survival.

They would alternate between these three schedules every day, with additional periods held the rest of the day and on the weekends (for those who chose not to rest on their days off) for indapendant study and electives.

Raven did not know what electives were available yet, as they were not avaible to first years until a quarter into the school year, but he would sign up to as many as he reasonably could. He was a team leader now, and he had to devote his all to it.

Not like Ms. Rose. The girl had straight up slept through their first class (not that he was any better in that regard, although he had apologised to the Professor and had been issued a detention with him), goofed off in their second class and drew in her notebook in their third.

Mr. Arc was slightly better, as he had been attentive, albeit a little too tightly wound. The boy was obviously intelligent, but not all that well versed in even the basics of what being a huntsman meant.

Mr. Winchester on the other hand was someone he knew he would not get along with anytime soon. He was certainly attentive in class, and sharp as a razor to boot. He was lazy though, and arrogant.

He needed a serious attitude adjustment and a reality check. He wasn't totally irredemable though, despite all of his negative traits the thought of using his strength for evil purposes had never even crossed his mind, and he instead wanted to be a huntsman, to devote his life to fighting grimm and keeping people safe. His reasons for doing so weren't entirely altruistic, true, as fame and glory were a big part of his decision, as was living up to the Winchester legacy, but he highly doubted his instructers would let him get this far in this field if they didn't see some good in him.

Focusing again on the lesson, he listened to the Professor rant about dust. In this class they would be learning, in addition to sparring and team building excercisis, to further costumize their weapons to better fight against the grimm, how to build new and more complex weapons to further their repertoir and skill sets, and how to utilize dust and integrate them with their weapons.

Once again his mind fell to Ruby, and how this knowledge could apply to her. He could be wrong, but her possible applications of this knowledge would be... limited at best. The girl could always learn new ways to use dust in conjunction with her weapon, but...

The girl used a high impact sniper rifle and a war scythe. Both of those were highly unweldy and greatly specialized weapons that required immense amounts of skill to use properly without hurting oneself or others, so in terms of possible weapon costumization and furthering her skill set, she was pretty much tapped. Her potential on that front was spent. Other students with more simple weapons had more room to grow, but her?

What she was doing right now was what she was going to be doing for the rest of her life.

He idly wondered if she realized that, and if so, if the idea scared her. She seemed to enjoy fighting the way she did, and she obviously loved her weapon. But might there come a day where she became bored or her enemies figured out her attack patterns and developed specific counters to them, and wanted or needed a change, only for her to be unable to adjust?

"-In your seat," Professor Stark continued, snapping Raven out of his revery, embaressing him further as he realized that once again he was neglecting his classes in favor of psychoanalizing his felow students. "-along with some Dust crystals. Before we tamper with it, we must understand what this substance is.

"Aside from outliers such as Energy, Gravity, or Lightning Dust, the four primary forms of Dust are Fire, also known as Burn, Water, Earth, and Wind. These types can be alchemically mixed together to create other forms of Dust such as Volcanic, Steam, and Ice. However, you must never mix Fire and Wind Dust, as when the two come together, their reaction is…"

In the front rows, Ruby was goofing off once again. This time she had grabbed some Dust vials and was pressing them against her face in an attempt to mock the Professor's facial hair.

Their young Professor stylish white dress shirt, a thin black leather belt with an elagent silver buckle, and black dress pants tucked into black leather boots, and finishing his outfit was a pair of black gloves. The man had fair white skin, and short black slicked back hair with well groomed sideburns, a thin mustache and a neatly shaved, downward pointing goaee.

In the back rows Raven rubbed his chin in envy, because of his glandular problem he would never grow hair like that.

Back with team RWBY, Ruby was making faces with the vials against her face, drawing a short chukle out of Weiss. The caped girl, overjoyed that she managed to make her partner laugh, giggled with her. But in doing so, she accidentally dropped two of her vials.

A red one and a green one.

In the back rows with team RAVN, Raven looked at his teammates to see that Vergil was playing with his Dust vials, just like Ruby. The boy was standing them up in a row like dominoes, worrying his leader, if he knocked them down the results would be disasterous.

Luckily that's not what the young faunus had in mind, as he went about rearranging them in different patterns in the desk according to some play scenario going on in his mind.

It was only a matter of time then, before he dropped one of his vials. Next to him, Agni gasped at the sight of the falling vial and Raven tried to grab it, but the moment his metal hand closed around it, it shattered in his to-tight grip.

It was a lucky thing then, that his prosthetic arm could not channel aura, and the Dust simply laid dormant in his hand.

Raven cupped his hand to save as much of the Red powder as he could. "Sorry," he uttered sheepishly, holding his hand out to Vergil who simply smiled and replied "no problem, I know it wasn't your fault."

Raven's breath hitched as his world stopped.

**Your fault.**

The snake faunus' breathing started to speed up as images began flashing rapidly behind his wide, serpentine eyes.

**Your fault.**

"Raven?" The confusion and panic in Vergil's voice drew Nefartem and Agni's attention. They previosuly attributed the heavy breathing sounds to someone inhaling Dust, but now the team was looking in confusion and slight fear at their leader.

**Your fault!**

Raven gripped his head in pain, the claws on his right hand digging into his scalp and drawing blood. "Raven!?" Vergil grabbed the older faunus' shoulders, now officialy frightened.

**Your fault. Your fault. Your fault! Your Fault! Your fault Your Fault YourfaultYourfaultYourfault!**

**YoUrFaUlTYOurFAUltAoUrFaUlTyoUrFaultYOuRFaultYoUraUULtyOUrfAuLtYoURFAuLTUourFAuLTYoURFaUlT!** **!**

Raven's hands fell limp from his head as his body fell forward. Vergil cried out and grabed him and Agni and Nefartem stood up in shock, crowding around their now unconsious leader.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, before anybody noticed the drama with the team in the back rows, a massive Dust explosion erupted into being in the front rows. Shocked screams echoed among the studenes as the sounds of auras being activated to protect them from the coming blast rang forth in the chaos of the lecture hall.

The entire lecture hall was white for a whole minute as the blast had rendered everyone in the hall blind and deaf, and in the minute it took their eyes to adjust everyone slowly rose from the floor, grabbing for their desks for stability only to fall again as the desks had been destroyed in the blast, their own Dust vials getting caught up in the explosion and in turn making the explosion bigger and more powerful.

When Ruby could see again she looked to see Yang laying on top of her, shielding her from the blast with her body and aura. Good thing she did, as Ruby had not activated her aura, so surprised was she when the chaos started. Similarly, a feew feet away was Blake with her body curled arount the Schnee heiress, the wide eyed gibbering girl held tightly in the arms of the other girl.

Like herself, Weiss was so surprised by the blast that she had not thought to activate her aura and had to be protected by her teammate.

Around the room people started to get up from their positions on the floor, moaning in pain and auras exhausted.

In the back Agni, Nefartem and Vergil rose from their position shielding their leader. In the entire hall, Raven was one of the only unconcious students, and now everyone would just assume that he failed to get his aura up in time rather than realize that he had a mental breakdown.

When everyone's ears stopped ringing, Professor Stark continued his interuppted speech, podium destroyed but the man himself entirely untouched with not a strand of hair out of place, "-destructive. Thank you for that demonstration, Ms. Rose, Ms. Schnee!"

"Did you-!" Yang yelled, getting up from her place on top of her sister, "did you nearly let them-"

"Relax, Ms. Xiao Long." The bearded man assured the angry blonde in a calm tone, gesturing with one hand to placate the girl "I knew you'd come to her aid. Although while I did expect Ms. Rose not to activate her aura, Ms. Schnee's actions do surprise me."

Still held in Blake's arms, the heiress fumed at the proffesor's words.

"Excuse me!?" The girl yelled, standing abruptly and roughly pushing Blake away from her. Weiss was enraged at her so-called professr, that this plebian would dare imply that she, a Schnee, was unprepared for a simple Dust explosion and in the same league as Ruby. "You!" she started, but her words became an impotent growl when the man simply raised a groomed eyebrow at her.

Unable to take her anger out on her Professor, Weiss turned instead to her ill fated 'leader'. "You!"

Ruby yelped and lept into her sister's arms with a loud gulp.

"I will have everyone here know that I know more than my fair share about Dust." Ruby let out a relieved sigh when the heiress moved past her to address the lecture hall at large. The white haired girl put her hand on her hip and posed dramatically, with one hand on her diminutive chest. "I'm a Schnee, after all. This lecture is useless to me anyway."

"If that's what you believe, do you care to prove it, Ms. Schnee?" Their Professor replied calmly.

"I would be glad to!"

The Schnee girl and the Professor glared at eachother and the man simply walked away, "very well."

The man stomped on the floor once, and a hidden compartment raised from the floor and he withdrew a sword.

It was beautiful and elagent, the handle was short and meant to fit a single hand, the pommel shaped like a fluer-de-lis, and the guard looked as if an expert calligrapher had designed it, two prongs elagently wrapping around a crystal orb before extending to the sides in a pair of angel wings, and two blades sprang forth from it and tapered to a fine point.

The Professor reached in again and withdrew a second blade, this one a translucent blue with no handle, and then he turned and posed elagently where he stood, with the pommel of his sword at shoulder hight with the blade pointing toward the floor, as he lowered it down, sliding the translucent Dust blade into the hollow area between the two blades of his sword.

Once the Dust blade was fully embedded in his weapon, it clicked and gleaming white runes spreng into existance all over his silver sword, and Weiss gulped, thinking that she may have once again bitten off more than she could chew.

* * *

Weiss, now in her battle clothes and armed with her rapier, stood acress from her Professor, still in his professional attire, save for a loose belt from which hung three more dust blades, silver sword in hand and standing with his off hand behind his back in a classic dueling pose.

The students were now occupying the stands overlooking the sparring arena, the unconsious ones taken away to the infirmary of course, and whispering exitedly. Some were exited at the prospect of seeing the Schnee brought down a peg or two, and some were exited about their fellow student showing one of these arrogant adults what their generation could do, other still were merely exited at the fight itself and wanted to see someone get beaten up, not particularly caring as to who.

"Now, show me what you can do Ms. Schnee."

The girl breathed in to calm herself and replied confidently "I'll show you that a Schnee can never loose in a Dust battle!"

She pulled the trigger of her revolver hilted rapier, and it shifted to a red cylinder, allowing for the fire dust to flow into her blade, hilighting the intricate runes in red.

"Very well" the Professor said dissmisively and simply held his blade at the ready. "No using your glyphs, this is a dust exhibition, nothing more.

"A simple, albeit unexpected, addition to you lesson plan for today."

Weiss inhaled sharply and rushed at him, but once she got in close he flicked his blade sending an ice sickle shard at her. She doged the weak attack and rushed in from a different angle, but he flicked his blade again and she was forced to move out of the way.

He flicked his blade again, but this time she swiped her rapier in front of her and melted the shard in a stream of fire.

"Very good, dodging is important, but never forget to counter attack."

Weiss' eye twitched. It felt like she was fighting Winter! She clenched her teeth, she couldn't believe that she just compared this lowlife with her older sister! Winter was worth ten of this plebian!

For Winter's honor, she would break this man's teeth!

Enraged, Weiss rushed at the Professor and pulled the trigged of her weapn until it settled on a yellow cylinder, but before she could unleash hell on her plebian opponent he slashed his blade at her and a torrent of ice rushed out to meet her.

"Weiss!" Her teammates yelled, jumping out of their seats to catch the flying girl, unconsious and entombed in a prison of ice.

"Weiss!" Yang called, catching the girl and activating her semblance, melting the ice with her fiery aura.

"Weiss!" Blake shouted in concern, that last attack looked painful and the girl was turning blue.

"Come on Weiss!" Ruby tried to encourage her partner back into consiouness, uncaring that she was mad at her.

"What!?" Weiss screamed, her blissful unconsiousness interuppted by the harping of three annoying girls and her extremely cold body.

"Ms. Schnee." Weiss looked up at her teacher in fury, but her last memory of him making her bite her tongue and look at the floor.

"Ms Schnee, look." Weiss looked up to see that the man had removed the dust blade, now crystal clear, from his sword and now held it out to her, the other three removed from his belt and held in a fan formation with the clear one.

One red Dust blade, one purple, and one green. But none of them were translucent, they were opaque. Her eyes widened as she understood. The older man had delibrately held back against her, he chose a Dust blade that was used up and almost entirely spent of its power.

Had he chosen a newer blade she would have been obliterated in a blink. It wasn't even a fight. He simply used small, weak attacks that wouldn't even kill the smallest of grimm to divert her attacks off their course, and when she grew angry and impatient he used up the last remaining energy in that Dust blade in a single burst of power.

"Do you understand? You may be a Schnee, but you have much to learn. Even when it concerns a subject matter with which you have an intimate familiarity."

Weiss was silent as Professor Stark lectured her in his suave, charming voice.

"I... understand" the white haired girl quietly acquiesced.

She understood that where she had spent years simply throwing away her Dust when she could no longer get powerful, flashy attacks and simply buying newer Dust afterwords, he saved what Dust he had, even if it was weak, until the most opportune moment presented itself.

Her method of doing things was decadent and wasteful.

"Wow!" Ruby uttered in silent awe.

"Yeah, a chilling defeat" Yang agreed, only for Blake to slap her upside the head "hey!"

"No!" The bow wearing girl stuck her finger in Yang's face like one would a newspaper to a cat that had just pooped on the carpet. "No puns!"

"Spoilsport" Yang pouted.

_'Raven would have laughed.'_

Suddenly, they heard a slow clapping coming from the door at the far end of the hall, and when they looked they saw Professor Ozpin standing there, watching as events unfolded with his ever present cane and lazily sipping from his iced coffee.

"How did he clap his hands with one hand on his cane and the other holding his coffee?" Blake deadpanned, "I don't know, maybe he's just that awesome?" Yang responded confusedly.

"I am glad to see your first day has been… interesting." Ozpin said jovially as he walked down the steps, almost paraphrasing his remark from the previous night.

"Sir!" Professor Stark straightened up and saluted his employer, and Weiss recognized it as an Atlesian salute. He was a specialist? Then he was...

Wess' features screwed up in mortification at her previous thoughts reguarding the man.

But then, why was he teaching at Beacon?

"P-Professor Ozpin?" Weiss gasped in embarassment that he had witnessed her humiliation.

"How long were you there?" Blake asked the headmaster when he was within range, her bow twitching. She was surprised she had not hear dim enter, she normally had such good hearing.

"Would you young ladies care to join me in my office?" Ozpin asked, ignoring the bow wearing girl's question.

Even though he phrased it in the form of a question, his tone left no room for further discussion.

The members of team RWBY all glance at each other in confusion.

* * *

"I have to say I am impressed" Ozpin said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, his hands pouring each of the girls a cup of tea.

His tone was kind and genial, but still the students felt uneasy, like there was a guillotine blade hovering over their heads.

"Blowing up a Dust lab on your first day is no small feat" the old man said in a gentle manner, his tone making light of the subject, but they could read the harshness of the statement even so.

Oh, how they wished he would just lose his temper and scream at them.

His kind words and gentle eyes were more cutting than even the sharpest of blades could ever hope to be.

"Professor, I can pay for the damages. I assure you it this was no fault of-" Weiss tried to bargain and mitigate her involvement in this.

"It is indeed your fault, Ms. Schnee. All of yours. And this is not a monetary issue, but rather one of attitude. As a team, you are expected to shoulder the burdens of all of your problems as a unit. Should any one of you stand on your own and fall, the team will surely crumble away with time."

Yang repeated Weiss' earlierstatement in a baby voice to mock her, attempting to introduce some levity into the situation. This was their first meeting alone with Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon. This was supposed to be a grand occasion.

But instead they all felt smaller than children, the gravitas of this man bearing down on all of them like some dissaproving god. They couldn't even rightly argue back, as this was truly their own fault and they were being admonished for it by a man so far above them that he might as well be a god.

Ozpin would allow no levity to lighten the mood however, as wth a raise of his hand he effortlessly shot them down.

"Professor," Blake managed to ask, the tension in the air was so thick she felt she could choke on it, "if I may ask… why are all the students put onto teams?" Blake barely managed to keep her gaze level with Ozpin's eyes as she continued her line of questioning "Aren't there plenty of Huntsmen in the field who work alone?

Ozpin closed his eyes and smiled, but none of them felt relieved by it.

"Some Huntsmen may indeed carry out their missions on their own, Ms. Belladonna, but there are many others who fulfill their duties in partnerships or teams, some even larger than groups of four. But that does not matter. Not to you as students, at least."

Ozpin set down his coffee cup and leaned back into his chair.

"Ms. Rose?"

Ruby stuttered at being so suddenly addressed. Unlike the other three she was young and sheltered, almost oppressively so.

In her previous meeting with Ozpin, he seemed like a kind and gentle grandfather, but now to have this oppresive air bearing down on her...

"Y-yes" Ruby stuttered, a sprinkling of tears in the corners of her eyes.

"What would you say the duty of a Huntsman is?" he asked, his eyebrow raised slightly as if he had access to some secret knowledge that none of them were privvy to, and an incorrect answer could spell doom for them all.

"T-To, uh… to fight the Grimm?" Ruby stuttered nervously.

Ozpin silently regarded her for a few long, drawn out secnds before he moved on.

"The rest of you? Would you say the same as Ms. Rose?"

Without hesitation they all nodded. Ozpin sipped his coffee and sighed.

"Wrong." The four girl's breath hitched as they all felt like they were about to be struck down by lightning.

"Remnant is an incredibly dangerous place to live, and in the face of danger our darkest emotions surface themselves. Fear. Anger. Blame. Hatred. Despair. And it is these precise emotions that bring the Creatures of Grimm clawing at our realm's walls. How do you think we prevent this kind of crisis from happening, Ms. Xiao Long?"

Yang stuttered at being put on the spot.

"M-Me?"

"Did I stutter?" Ozpin asked calmly with a raised brow.

"Uh…" the blonde was silent for a full moment before she answere with the only thing she could think of "inspirational speeches?"

Ozpin smirked amusedly and Yang shrank in on herself, mortified.

"The Huntsmen and Huntresses, in the eyes of the people, going about their lives as if the Grimm do not exist.

"Huntsmen and Huntresses are their guardians. They bear the burdens of our world so ordinary folk never have to. It is this mutual trust and respect, along with our ingenuity, that allows mankind…

"And Faunus…" Ozpin's eyes shifted to Blake, who gripped the arms of her chair tightly.

"To stand united against the Grimm. Truth be told, the randomized process of creating teams is actually controlled by me."

At that, the girls instantly forgot the weight that had been crushing down on them this whole meeting and jumped to their feet.

"What!?" Yang, Weiss and Blake cried while Ruby remained silent in her chair, dwelling on what this new revalation meant for her and her team.

"To observe each student—analyze their background, strengths, and weaknesses—and partner them with others who would challenge them as people. If I were to partner you all with students who agreed or got along with you, it'd make for a rude awakening when your comfortable bubble is popped upon graduation.

"It is only through these conflicts that you will either learn to grow as people… or realize this path is not the one for you.

"Do you all understand?"

"Yes, Professor Ozpin." The girls answered too quickly.

No, they did not understand. They were too young, blinded by teenage arrogance, to see the bigger picture.

But they would learn.

"Well, you will one day." The tension immediately dissapeared from the air, and the girls breathed a sigh of relief at being able to breath freely once again.

"I'll leave you all to discuss today's events, and decide where to go from here. You are dismissed."

Ozpin's chair swivelled around and he stood and walked to the window, absently drinking his coffee. The members of team RWBY rose from their chairs and headed for the elevator, not noticing in their ruminations as their team leader was not with them.

* * *

"I can't believe this!" Weiss shouted when the elevator started to descend. She knew she should be wondering why Ozpin's mere presence bore down on them all so, but they were all desperately trying not to think about it. "He lied to us all on team formations?"

"Well..." Yang leaned back against the elevator wall, hands crossed behind her head. "I thought he had pretty good reasons."

"That's not the point, Yang!" The blonde raised an eyebrow at the Schnee, her look saying _'then what is the point?'_

Weiss blanched and addressed Blake instead. "Besides, why do we even need to be on teams? We can protect humanity just fine individually. Blake, you agree with me, right?"

Blake opened one eye to look at Weiss from her position leaning against the elevator wall opposite Yang, arms crossed over her chest in a defensive manner, and simply closed the eye and lowered her chin to her chest, ignoring the girl.

"Wow, thanks" the heiress sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm really feeling the support." Weiss leaned back against the elevator door and pouted.

"Hey, uh-" Yang said, looking around the elevator upon noticing that she hadn't heard a peep out of her sister since they left the headmaster's office. "Where's Ruby?"

* * *

Ozpin lazzily sipped his his coffee, gazing upon the view of Beacon, the srrrounding countryside and the distant ocean that his high tower offered him.

After a full moment of admiring the orange sun strewn landscape and the sparkling ocean, he spoke over his shoulder to the young girl still sitting in her chair before his desk. "You wanted to have a word, Ms. Rose?"

Ruby didn't respond at first, her eyes were glazed over and looking at the Professor's left leg. It was very subtle, but after watching him walk she had noticed.

His left knee didn't work, and he walked with a very subtle limp. It might have been more obvious were it not for his ever present cane. Ozpin noticed her stare, and he smiled in at her mysteriously.

Blinking her eyes, Ruby stood from her chair and spoke.

"Yes Professor, I... umm, I wan'ted to ask you something."

Ozpin looked down at the little bit of coffee left in his cup "I see, and you could not ask this beforehand?"

Ruby nodded her head and made a humming noise.

"Did…" Ruby lookaed down at the floor nervously, "did you make a mistake? In making me team leader?

Ozpin walked back to his desk and sat down iin his chair, swivelling it so he could look directly at young Ms. Rose with steepled fingers. "That remains to me seen. It's only been one day.

"Ruby," the girl rose her head to meet his gaze at hearing him speak her first name. "I have made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet."

Ruby's face screwed up in confusion. That was... confusing. How could he say he made more mistakes than anyone? There have been a whoule lot of people in his world. Like... millions! So how could he have made more mistakes than all of them?

Unless he was a thousand years old or something, then yeah. Mistakes could really pile up over all that time.

But that was pre... post... popost...

That was silly.

No one was _that_ old.

"But at this moment, I would not consider your appointment to leader as one of them. Do you?"

"N-No, I guess not. I hope not."

Ozpin grinned widely at her, the smile thankefully meeting his eyes this time and making him seem so much more genuinely kind than the menacing godlike specter from before.

"Being a team leader is not just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you are not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you?" Ruby looked down at her lap in guilt that she had spent the day goofing off in class rather than paying attention.

"You have been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I advise you take some time to think about how you will uphold it."

Ruby's eyes fell down to her lap as Ozpin's words sunk in.

Then something clicked in her mind, and the girl looked up, beaming at the headmaster. "Thank you, Professor. I'll do my best."

"Good. Perfect time for you to start, as it seems your team is in need of you right now."

"Huh?" she blinked. Ozpin pointed behind her and she turned to see Blake... phasing through the elevator doors? Did her semblance have to do with phasing through objects?

"Ruby!"

"Blake? How did you-"

"Nevermind that! Weiss and I tried to calm her down, but-" Blake's rushed explanation was interrupted however, by a very pissed off Yang who could be heard yelling from whithin the elevator.

"Where Is RUBY?" They heard Yang screaming through the metal doors brfore they exploded and flew into the office with a wave of fire.

Ruby sank into her chair and whined while Ozpin simply sipped his tea with an amused smirk.

Coughing could be heard from Weiss and Blake... who was still in the elevator, the Blake who phased through the doors having evaporated.

The smoke wafting from the elevator doorwas cleared, revealing the fiery blonde- _'oh my god, did I just make a pun,'_ Ruby thought, horrified at herself! _'Nooooo!'_ -wreathed in flame, breath escaping her body in pants and her eyes a wine red.

Upon spotting her baby sister, safe and sound, the fire dissapeared, she grinned from ear to ear and her eyes rturned to their normal lilac hue.

"Oh, there you are, Ruby!" Yang chirped and Ruby sighed in annoyance before turning her head to the headmaster to offer up some sort of pla... tit... plati... to say she was sorry.

"Professor-"

"I am afraid Ms. Rose," he said with an amused grin, "that this is your battle, not mine. But let me assure you, far worse things have happened to that elevator."

* * *

Elsewhere in Beacon acadamy, Glynda Goodwitch's lecture was paused by a sneeze.

* * *

Weiss, standing in the smoky elevator and taking in all the destruction and what was being said, simply shook her head and muttered "savages" under her breath.

* * *

On the other side of Beacon acadamy, Raven Lenoreah was lying, unconscious on a sterile white mattress while the school nurse typed away at her computer.

The nurse, an exceptionally pale woman, though not nearly as pale as her patient, with long ravenous black hair removed the cigarette from her lips and ground it out in the ash tray at her side, sighing and rubbing at her eyes.

The young snake faunus had been carried in here by two other faunus, an wolf and a lion. those two certainly... exuberant. The wolf faunus was all smiles and bright eyes, so sweet he could make anyone's teeth rot from their skull.

Just like a woman she used to know.

The lion faunus on the other hand... He was flamboyant and boastful, and the way he talked... it was so fast and loud that she couldn't understand half of the things he said.

She turned in her chair to face the snake faunus. He was lying in his bed with his eyebrows furrowed together in a troubled look.

Who looked stressed while they were asleep?

The nurse rose from her chair and walked over to the bed, standing only when she was looking down on him. She focused her gaze on the young man, taking in his beautiful face, his long white hair, his prosthetic limbs, his lanky body and strong tail.

She sat down on the edge of his bed and stroked his face with the knuckles of her left hand in a manner that, had anyone been here to witness it, would have set off warning bells. From the bedside table she picked up a syringe and, feeling the the flesh of his elbow to feel the gaps in the metal under his skin, she inserted the syringe into his vein and began to pull back on the plunger.

Once full, the woman removed the syringe from his elbow and held it to her face, her wine red eyes reflected back at her, made darker by the crimson liquid.

Her ruby red lips stretched into a grin as she let out a small chortle before, setting the syringe down, she walked back to the computer to remove her scroll and erase all traces of her being in the system.

Next, she walked back to the beds and threw back one of the curtains to reveal the unconscious nurse, a woman in her twenties with nicely tanned skin and strawberry blonde hair, naked, bound and gagged in the bed with a large bruise on her temple.

Her weapon was lying on the bed next to the knocked ut woman, and she picked it up and stroked it lovingly before unsheathing the sword, the telescopic Dust blade expanding to twice its length and she slashed the air to create a portal.

"Goodye Raven," Raven spoke as she gingerly picked up and cradled the syringe, "I'll see you again soon."

She chortled, and with an evil grin back at the unconsious faunus, the bandit dissapeared into her portal.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is that. Sorry for such a short chapter after such a long wait, but now that I have a general idea of where I want to take this story in the immediate future, and Unicorn of War's scripts, I should be able to have the next few chapters up relatively soon if nothing else crops up.
> 
> What did you guy's think of Raven's episode? Thu guy's suffering from some pretty major survivor's guilt. I'll give you guys a hind, it has something to do with his prosthetics.
> 
> His arm and legs, not his eye. That was something else.
> 
> What did you guys think of Raven Branwen? If you guys that that she was being really creepy in her cameo, that's because she was. In my expert opinion, she was built up to the extreme as this great powerful and mysterius villain, but what we got was a generic, and iditic, bad girl.
> 
> So I decided that if everybody and their mother wants to call her the worst mother ever, then I will base her portrayal in my story after the worst mother in all of anime... and perhaps even in all of fiction as well.
> 
> Hint; her theme song is Blumenkranz.
> 
> Please leave a review and tell me your thoughts.


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